Fig. 615. (S. 2–3.) Copper saucer-shaped object. Hopewell Group, Ohio.
Awls and Drills. (See Figs. 593 and 603.)
These have been obtained nowhere in greater numbers than in the Lake Michigan coastal region in Wisconsin. They vary in size from about one to six inches or more, and in thickness from one sixteenth to one half an inch. The greater number are of very small size.
The simplest and most frequent form is a slender cylindrical piece of metal pointed at one or both extremities. A second and usually stouter form is either round or square in section and tapers from a well-marked shoulder at or near the middle to both extremities. Sometimes one end only is pointed. Occasionally also the upper half of the implement is straight and the lower half tapers to a point. Many of these small implements were probably mounted in handles of wood, bone, or antler, the object of the shoulder being to prevent their passing too far into the handle. Several specimens mounted in antler handles have been found. Similar implements of bone and stone have been found in Wisconsin. Most of them were probably employed in drilling holes in wood, bone, or stone, in piercing skins, and for similar purposes. The Eskimo are said to employ somewhat similar implements of bone for catching waterfowl. They are used by attaching a line to the centre, the bone spindle being baited with a small fish into which the implement is inserted lengthwise. Large fish are captured by them in the same manner. We have no record of the employment of such methods by Wisconsin Indians.
Fig. 616. (S. 1–2.) Possibly this was the crown of a head-mask. It seems to indicate growing antlers, or those of a young buck. When found the horns or projections were downward and the raised surface uppermost. Hopewell Group, Ohio.
Spikes. (See Fig. 580, lower left-hand specimen.)
In a number of Wisconsin cabinets are to be seen copper implements locally known as “spikes,” taking their names from the close resemblance which they bear to the modern articles. These vary somewhat in shape and size.
Fig. 617. (S. 1–1.) Pendant of sheet-copper. C. B. Moore’s explorations.