34 



BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



other areas. Bone implements here are entirely practical and rarely 

 show effort at ornamentation or regularity of form and finish. They 

 consist of sharpened splinters of bone or slender bones which appear 

 to represent several implements, the commonest of which is the awl, 

 having a sharp point and others with rounded or chisel-like ex- 

 tremities whose use is not suggested. A few fleshers made from large 

 bones were found. Spikes from the antlers of the deer are frequently 

 seen in the debris of ruins. They show wear and the points are blunt, 

 wedge-shaped and scored, as though employed on a hard substance 

 and it is possible that they may have had use for split- 

 ting wood or for chipj^ing stone. These spikes are ready- 

 to-hand tools and it is reasonable to say were among the 

 first bone implements in the possession of man. 



The most familiar and common implements of bone 



are awls, whose general use is for sewing, 



but the awl was a handy tool and may have 



been employed in a number of 



61. 



Figs. 57-59. — Bone awls from Spuk Ranch. 



Fig. 60. — Bone awl with spatulate end from Spue Ranch. 



Fig. 61. — Bone awl from Tulahosa Cave. 



Fig. 62. — Short bone awl from Spur Ranch. 



ways. The awls in the collection are mostly of deer bone, the fibula 

 being preferred. The piercing end is short, slender, and effective 

 (figs. 57-8; 61-2, Cat. Nos. 231834, 231887, «, ?>, c, U.S.N.M.; Spur 

 Ranch and Cat. No. 246474, U.S.N.M., Tularosa Cave) , or the working 

 end is ground to spatulate edge (figs. 59, 60, 68, Cat. Nos. 231887, 231931, 

 U.S.N.M., Spur Ranch and 246476, U.S.N.M., Tularosa Cave.) A 

 small bird bone comes from Luna (fig. 66), Cat. No. 246481, U.S.N.M. 

 Two interesting specimens which appear to be awls widen out at 

 the upper end and one of them is terraced (fig. 63, Cat. No. 76239, 

 U.S.N.M., Upper San Francisco River, New Mexico, collected by 



