ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 49 



opens into the interior cavity of the bone. The hole is large enough, 

 to take an ordinary chalkline or other moderately heavy cord. Wheth- 

 er the finished object was used as a dangler on a garment, as part 

 of a necklace, or as one of the counters in the familiar cup-and-pin 

 game is conjectural. In every respect it is identical with ethnographic 

 pieces known to have served each of these various purposes. From 

 pit 21 came another cervid toe bone, whittled at both ends but not 

 pierced. A little more work would have reduced this piece to a form 

 comparable to the above, but there is no way of determining whether 

 the ancient workman had such an artifact in view. 



Another small object of fire-blackened bone resembles the head and 

 neck of a bird (pi. 11, h) . A short beak and the eyes are represented. 

 The neck has numerous short fine striae, presumably acquired during^ 

 the final grinding or rubbing. The piece has been broken from a. 

 larger object but of what size or form is not determinable. 



Pit 13 yielded a short bone tube, 43 mm. long and 17 mm. in diameter. 

 The ends have been whittled in a ragged manner and were never 

 dressed down ; the interior retains bits of the porous tissue. The ex- 

 terior surface is highly polished. This may be an unfinished bead. 

 Its size and shape also suggest the familiar bone plume-holder of the 

 historic plains tribes, though there is nothing else to indicate such 

 a use. 



In addition to the various artifact types described above, there are 

 a number of miscellaneous fragments of worked, cut, or polished bone. 

 These are too small or too badly broken to afford any clue to their 

 former size, shape, or purpose. 



WORK IN COPPER 



That the natives who inhabited the Renner site were at least ac- 

 quainted with copper is indicated by a single small worked piece, 

 found in Sq. 85E10 at a depth of 12 inches (pi. 11, i). In shape it 

 closely resembles the adz blades from the mound area of the eastern 

 United States. From a squared narrow end the piece widens slightly 

 to a rounding thinned edge. Near the upper end the sides are battered 

 and turned upward, while the reverse surface is slightly convex. In 

 cross section thus the specimen shows a slight transverse curvature. 

 The copper, heavily oxidized, has not been analyzed; hence for the 

 present it is impossible to do more than suggest a Great Lakes origin 

 for the material, if not for the finished specimen itself. There is no 

 reason to regard it as intrusive, since it was found well below the levels 

 reached even by the deepest plowing. 



WORK IN SHELL 



Although the remains of fresh- water mussels were relatively plenti- 

 ful throughout the Eenner site, only one worked example was found. 



