Fig. 551. (S. 1–3.) A series of bone celts from the Mandan Site, North Dakota.
Fig. 552. (S. 1–2.) Bone objects from Mandan Sites. Portions of head-dresses. (See page 154.)
Fig. 546 is interesting in that it shows not only bone beads to the left, but also three bone arrow-points (top row in the centre) and fish-hooks in process of manufacture. Professor William C. Mills published a valuable paper on the manufacture of fish-hooks.[[23]]
Fig. 552 A. (S. 1–3.) How the Mandans made bracelets and head-dresses. (See pages 154, 155.)
Professor Mills found in the ash-beds of the Baum Village-Site bones which had been cut down until a narrow rim on both sides remained. I show Professor Mills’s finds in Figs. 547–48.
Professor Mills’s finds of unfinished as well as completed fish-hooks enabled his museum to secure the best series of such objects in the United States.
Having split the bones and ground them down until they were thin, the Indians would cut through the objects near either end, thus producing from a split bone two fish-hooks. Or, the entire bone yielded four fish-hooks. One side is cut long, the other short, thus forming the shank and bar. In Fig. 546 the entire process is shown. The split bone, to the right, the broken bone above the perfect fish-hook. To complete fish-hooks it was necessary to round the base, sharpen the point, cut out a little more space between the shank and the point, and notch the shank in order that the line might be attached.