ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTKJATIONS IN MISSOURI 83 



type (pi. 27, g) . The last two measure 76 by 30 mm. each, the others 

 62 and 65 mm. long by 30 and 32 mm. wide. All have been shaped 

 with some care and exhibit fine secondary retouching along the edges. 

 There is no clue as to whether these types were ever provided with 

 handles of bone, wood, or other substance. The specimen shown in 

 plate 26, j, may have been a knife, an unusually large projectile point, 

 or a blank. 



Much more plentiful were knives made by retouching one, two, or 

 all edges of large flakes and spalls. These are generally thicker 

 and larger than the flake knives from the Renner site (cf. pi. 27, 

 e, /, and pi. 14, ar-e), though the latter, when retouched, show a much 

 finer edge and more delicate workmanship. Those from Steed-Kisker 

 are often heavy enough to have served effectively as side-scrapers or 

 as knives. There is no fixed shape, this feature obviously depend- 

 ing upon the form and size of the flake used. Including fragments, 

 some 30 or more specimens from all parts of our diggings may be 

 assigned to this group. 



Drill points, seven in number, are of various types. The largest 

 specimen recovered (pi. 26, g) had an oblong form with two par- 

 allel sides, measures 62 by 22 mm., and lacks the tip. Smaller ex- 

 amples have evenly tapering shafts and expanded bases (pi. 26, h, i). 

 Two small ones seem to have been reworked from projectile points 

 (pi. 26, k). A sixth (pi. 26, I) has been made from a rude spall 

 and has a wide base for grasping or mounting on a shaft. The 

 remaining piece is a small chipped fragment that suggests the stem 

 or blunted tip of a drill. These objects could have been held in 

 the hand and used after the fashion of a bone awl for piercing skins 

 and other soft substances. Alternatively, most or all might have 

 been set into the ends of wooden shafts which were then rotated be- 

 tween the hands or by means of a bow. Archeology furnishes no 

 certain indication as to the precise manner in which any of them were 

 utilized. 



A few other rare artifact types may be noted. The specimen 

 shown in plate 27, d, has been fashioned from a thin curving spall. 

 Most of the longer convex edge is retouched, as is the deeply concave 

 side just above the tip. Almost all the retouching was done from 

 the surface shown, the under side representing the smooth cleavage 

 face. This may have been a drill or graver; it measures 60 by 25 

 mm. Another retouched spall, with no chipping on the under cleav- 

 age surface, has a small point at one end (pi. 26, o), which might 

 have been used as a graving tool, for incising pottery, bone, or other 

 materials. Othei'wise, there are perhaps a score of hea\'y cores from 

 which only coarse primary flakes have been removed. Most are frag- 

 mentary and rough, suggesting rejectage or sources of flakes used 

 for other purposes rather than actual implements. One ovoid piece 



