56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 189 



The three bone disks from Paul Brave are similar in size and form 

 to incised disks in the collections of the State Historical Society of 

 jSTorth Dakota from the Motsiff, Slant, and Double Ditch sites. The 

 disks from these three sites are incised in much the same manner as 

 the bone disks used in the Mandan woman's game of Sha-ioe (Libby, 

 I9O65 pp. 444-445) . The specimens figured by Libby are cut from the 

 walls of a heavy long bone and are carefully rounded. The identifi- 

 cation of the bone as rib by Libby is erroneous. 



A number of bone tools are classed as "pottery modeling tools,*' 

 following the suggestion of 'V\^ieeler (1956, pp. 17-20). The bone 

 tubes from the site may have been used as ornaments, but it is also 

 possible that they were for medicinal use. In the collections of the 

 State Historical Society are three bone tubes, two of which were col- 

 lected by C. W. HofTman on the Fort Berthold Keservation, N. Dak. 

 They are said to have been used as emetics. These polished bird-bone 

 tubes are 49 and 61 mm. long and 14 to 18 mm. in diameter. One of 

 them has a hole in one side in the manner of a plume holder. A third 

 bird-bone tube, collected by Frances Densmore prior to 1918 in north- 

 ern Minnesota — probably among the Chippewa — is 64 mm. long and 

 12 mm. in diameter. This polished tube has two opposed holes in one 

 end, and Densmore noted that it was swallowed "to be regurgitated." 



The bone knife handles from Paul Brave are made from bison dorsal 

 vertebrae spines, whereas most reported hafts are made from bison 

 ribs. Specimens made of rib occur in many prehistoric and historic 

 com_plexes in the Plains. They are known in Upper Republican 

 (Kivett, 1949, p. 280; fig. 69, 5), and in the Mitchell and Twelve Mile 

 Creek sites of the Over Focus (Hurt, 1952). The use of these im.- 

 plements continued into historic times, occurring in Mandan sites 

 (Strong, 1940, p. 365), in the Sheyenne- Cheyenne site (Strong, 1940, 

 p. 375), and in Arikara sites in the vicinity of Mobridge (Wedel, 

 1955, pp. 122-123, plate 61, f-h) . These specimens consist of a slot- 

 ted rib with both ends cut square. The hafts from Paul Brave and 

 from the Over Focus sites have a tonguelike projection on one end. 



In addition to the bone knife handles are the bone knives (fig. 7, c), 

 which were used by historic tribes as "squash knives." Most of these 

 knives are rectangular in outline, but the form of one broken imple- 

 ment (fig. 8, ?i) suggests that it was part of a hook-blacled knife 

 similar to examples from the Dodd site (Lehmer, 1954, p. 68, 

 fig. 26, m). 



Two perforated elk teeth from Paul Brave are identical with speci- 

 mens found on costumes of historic Northern Plains Indians, as well 

 as other groups to the west and south. The significance of these orna- 

 ments has been discussed in detail elsewhere (Wood, 1957, pp. 381- 

 385), but it is relevant to state that they are prehistoric in the north- 



