pS ?fo' 35Y" HOSTERMAN SITE — ^MILLER 219 



BoTie ficks. — A form of pick was made from the shaft of a bison 

 radius by splitting it lengthwise, leaving a part of the proximal 

 articulative end intact and sharpening the other end. The one speci- 

 men that was recovered is badly battered. At the present time it 

 measures 17.1 cm. in length, which is far from its original length. 

 One edge has been smoothed to within 8 cm. of the articulative end. 

 This smoothing was probably not intentional but acquired through 

 use. 



Split pronghom metapodial hones. — Pronghorn metapodial bones 

 were split lengthwise and the halves were used as beamers. The bone 

 was sawed lengthwise in order to split it into two equal parts. The 

 distal end displays additional saw marks that were not carried to 

 completion. Awl blanks were similarly constructed from the split- 

 ting of metapodial bones. 



Perforated rib sections. — Sections of small ribs were perforated at 

 both ends. These were probably used as ornaments of dress since 

 they were attached to objects, or they may have been worn as pendants. 

 In the collection there is one complete specimen and fragments of five 

 others (pi. 37, 5). 



Punches. — Pimches were made from the cutoff or broken ends of 

 deer or elk antler. The tip ends of these show definite signs of having 

 been sharpened. Several acquired a fairly high polish. 



Antler sections. — Sections of antlers with their prong tips missing 

 definitely show the tips were severed from the main portion. To do 

 this the prongs were sawed or cut almost through and then broken 

 away from the stem. In one instance the prong was sharpened before 

 it was severed from the stem for it must have been easier to do it this 

 way than to do it afterward (pi. 36, 5) . 



Split antler section. — A small section of deer's antler was cut and 

 broken off and the ends left unworked. Later it was split down the 

 center and most of the cancellous tissue removed. The long edges 

 were then smoothed and evened up, leaving a sharp outer edge. From 

 the looks of this artifact it would appear that it was intended to be 

 used as some sort of scraper-smoother. 



Mineralized hone. — A small fragment of mineralized bone was 

 found in Feature 22, a cache pit. It apparently was never used by 

 the occupants of the Hosterman site. It was probably either picked 

 up from the surface outside of the village and brought in as a sort of 

 curiosity, and lost or discarded afterward ; or, it could have appeared 

 naturally on the surface of the site and later gathered up along with 

 the rest of the trash and dumped into the midden pit. 



Cut antler fragments. — Two large basal segments of deer antlers 

 were made into percussion instruments or hammers by having one end 

 slightly rounded and the other roughened. One was 17.0 cm. long 



661-932—64 16 



