l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. /O 



frequently chipped at the end as though employed as punches in 

 flaking arrow points, etc. But all of them, crude and finely worked 

 together, were utilized in the daily activities of their owners, in 

 weaving baskets, in making skin garments, and in numerous lesser 

 tasks for which they were not, perhaps, especially intended. 



Closely allied to the bone awls is rather an extensive group of 

 implements shaped from antler. These include chiefly punches and 

 flaking implements, but there is, also, a remarkable collection of 

 wedges, three of which are figured in plate 12. Among the antler 

 fragments, as with the bones, there are specimens that accurately 

 illustrate the manner in which they were prepared for use — speci- 

 mens which include selected though unworked tynes, those partially 

 or completely sawed with flakes of flint and cut pieces that show 

 various stages in the grinding process by which the objects were 

 brought to completion. 



Next to the awls, numerically, is a large series of more or less 

 carefully shaped objects, some of which are shown in plate 13. Most, 

 perhaps all, of these were employed as dice or counters in various 

 games and yet some of them were unquestionably adaptable to 

 other purposes. The series is truly noteworthy, both in point of 

 number and in the workmanship of many of the specimens. These 

 arrange themselves naturally into groups, according to the charac- 

 ter of the finished object — groups which range from the rudely 

 chipped counter to those neatly polished, perforated, and ornamented 

 by drilled dots or incised lines. A large percentage of these, crude 

 and highly worked alike, bear traces of red paint on the under or 

 concave side and it may be that each one was so marked when in 

 use. That all of these, especially those which are perforated, were 

 not employed exclusively in games is indicated by the recovery of 10 

 charred " counters " together with 14 bone pendants — the whole 

 probably forming a necklace — from the ashes of a fireplace in 

 Kiva IV. 



Pendants and broken counters reworked to form like ornaments, 

 beads of various sizes, small gaming disks or dice and even finger 

 rings are among the bone objects collected. The latter, especially, 

 will bear brief consideration, since the specimens recovered illustrate 

 each stage in ring manufacture. A section of predetermined width 

 was sawed from a large bone, as indicated in plate 1 1 ; this piece, in 

 turn, was ground down and polished by rubbing on sandstone and 

 perhaps later carved or incised with lines. The hollow character 



