l62  SMITHSONIAN    MISCELLANEOUS    COLLECTIONS  VOL.    96 
by  cutting  away  the  processes  at  the  proximal  end,  the  longitudinal 
crest  or  spine,  and  the  thickened  opposite  edge.  The  handle  was 
lashed  on  by  means  of  two  round  holes. 
Bone  knife. — Plate  50,  figure  4,  is  a  bone  knife  from  cut  19.  depth 
67  inches,  the  principal  use  of  which,  if  we  may  judge  from  modern 
analogy,  was  to  scrape  the  snow  from  fur  clothing  before  entering 
the  house.  It  is  made  from  a  section  of  walrus  penis  bone,  split  length- 
wise, flat  on  one  side,  convex  on  the  other.  The  four  notches  and 
intervening  knobs  at  the  handle  are  suggestive  of  those  found  on 
modern  ivory  snow  knives  from  western  Alaska,  and  also  of  those 
on  a  bone  knife  for  squeezing  out  water,  which  Mathiassen  describes 
from  the  Thule  culture  (1927,  vol.  i,  p.  48,  pi.  13,  fig.  14).  The 
present  specimen  may  represent  the  prototype  of  these  knives ;  at  any 
rate,  the  small  knobbed  grip  and  the  curving  shape  would  have  ren- 
dered it  ineffective  for  cutting  or  stabbing.  It  was  not  a  common 
type,  however,  as  this  and  a  few  doubtful  fragments  were  the  only 
examples  found  at  definite  Old  Bering  Sea  levels ;  as  we  shall  see 
later,  another  type  of  bone  knife,  evidently  a  dagger,  comes  in  with 
the  Punuk  period. 
Drills,  Reamers,  Awls,  Etc. 
Drill  rests. — Ivory  drill  rests  were  found  in  large  numbers  both 
at  the  Hillside  site  and  Miyowagh.  Plate  46,  figure  13,  shows  one 
of  these,  a  section  of  tusk  with  five  deep  holes  on  one  side  and  three 
on  the  other.  Drill  rests  of  this  kind  were  held  in  the  hand  and  pressed 
down  on  the  upper  end  of  the  drill  shank  as  it  was  being  rapidly 
revolved  by  the  bow  which  was  held  in  the  other  hand.  Many  of  them 
had  served  more  than  one  purpose ;  usually  they  were  wedges,  like 
the  one  shown  in  plate  47,  figure  9,  or  picks  or  pieces  of  heavy  sledge 
runners  which  later  had  been  utilized  as  drill  rests.  They  were  used 
no  doubt  both  for  fire  drilling  and  for  drilling  holes  in  implements. 
Mouthpieces. — Only  a  few  mouthpieces  for  bow  drills  were  found. 
Two  of  these,  from  the  Hillside  site,  are  shown  in  plate  30,  figures 
2,  3.  The  first  is  a  small  segment-shaped  piece  of  ivory  5.7  cm  long 
and  2.5  cm  wide  with  just  enough  of  a  groove  on  each  side  to  insure 
a  firm  grip  with  the  teeth.  Figure  3  is  a  walrus  tooth  unworked  except 
for  two  longitudinal  grooves  to  facilitate  grasping  between  the  teeth. 
Drill  bows. — It  is  not  always  possible  to  distinguish  between  drill 
bows  and  handles  for  pails,  boxes,  etc.  Assuming  the  longer  ones  to 
have  been  drill  bows,  however,  we  see  that  these  were  made  either  of 
wood  or  bone.  Those  of  bone  were  usually  made  of  a  section  of  walrus 
rib.  which  already  possessed  the  necessary  curve ;  those  of  wood  are 
