FEWKES] CEREMONIAL USE OF BONE WHISTLES 627 
BONE OBJECTS 
A large and varied collection of bone implements was gathered at 
Awatobi, and a few additional specimens were exhumed from Sikyatki. 
It is worthy of note that, as a rule, bone implements are more common 
in houses than in graves; and since the Awatobi excavations were con- 
ducted mostly in living rooms, while those at Sikyatki were largely 
in the cemeteries, the bone implements from the former pueblo far 
outnumber those from the latter. 
The collection consists of awls, bodkins, needles, whistles, and tubes 
made of the bones of birds and quadrupeds. The two animals which 
contributed more than others to these objects were the turkey and the 
rabbit, although there were fragments of the horns and shin-bones of 
the antelope or deer. Several of these specimens were blackened by 
fire, and one was stained with green pigment. There was also evidence 
of an attempt at ornamenting the implements by incised lines, while 
one was bound with string. Bones of animals which had served for 
food were very common in all the excavations at Awatobi, especially 
near the floors of the houses. With the exception of a number of 
large bones of a bear, found in one of the houses in the northern range 
of the eastern section, these bones were not carefully collected. 
Plate CXIv gives a general idea of some of the forms of worked 
bone which were obtained. Figure a shows an awl, for the handle of 
which one of the trochanters was used, the point at the opposite end 
being very sharp; ) and ¢ are similar objects, but slighter, and more 
carefully worked; d is a flattened bone implement perforated with two 
holes, and may have been used as a needle. There are similar imple- 
ments in the collection, but with a single terminal perforation. Other * 
forms of bone awls are shown in e, /, g, and /. 
There are a number of bone objects the use of which is problematical. 
One of the best of these is a section of the tibia of a bird, cut longi- 
tudinally, convex on the side represented in plate Cxty, h, and concave 
on the opposite side. When found this bone fragment was tied to a 
second similar section by a string (remnants of which can be seen in 
the figure), thus ferming a short tube. The use of this object is not 
known to me, nor were any satisfactory suggestions made by the 
Indians whom I consulted in relation to it. This does not apply, how- 
ever, to the object illustrated in plate Cxtv, 7, which was declared by 
several Hopi to be a bird whistle, similar to that used in ceremonials 
connected with medicine making. 
The manner in which a bone whistle is used in imitation of a bird’s 
call has been noticed by me in the accounts of several ceremonials, and 
I will therefore quote the description of its use in the Nimankatcina 
at Walpi.! 
1 Journal of American Hthnology and Archeology, vol. 11, No.1, p.77. 
