100 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 



took longer in preparation), and that was to bury the 

 bone in a bed of wood ashes and leave it until the animal 

 matter and the fat and grease were entirely out of it. 

 This method seems to have toughened it, but not har- 

 dened it. This method was used in the preparation of 

 bone for arrow chipping and flaking, as it would render 

 the bone tough, and at the same time, the grease being 

 out, it would not slip. 



The larger needles may have been used as daggers 

 and sticking knives. They are easily fitted into a deer 

 prong, made hollow, and would be a very serviceable 

 weapon. The smaller ones may have been used as arrow 

 and spear points when flint was scarce. 



Next to the needle in importance comes the drill, 

 used for innumerable purposes in the manufacture of 

 other tools, ornaments and weapons. They w^ere of both 

 flint and bone. The bone drills were of two kinds, one of 

 which is round its entire length, the other with round 

 point, but with a square base. These were no doubt 

 used as needles and could be fitted into a handle and 

 used as awls and punches. One with a square base was 

 discovered during the summer, and several of the round 

 ones. The method of use of these drills was the same, 

 with the exception that the square base was fitted into 

 a round stock, and the string of the drill used on the 

 stick instead of on the bone. 



These drills were used in the following manner: 

 A bone drill was prepared and hardened and fitted 

 into a stick not over two inches in diameter and 

 long enough to reach from the top of the drill when 

 it was in position to the operator's chin, he being seated. 

 A bow arrangement about fifteen or eighteen inches in 

 length with a cord which was circled several times 

 around the drill was fastened to each end of the bow. 

 The operator taking the bow in his left hand, guiding 

 and directing the drill with his right, using his chin to 

 give the necessary pressure, would draw the bow back 

 and forth, giving the drill a rapid rotary motion. In 

 this manner holes were bored in shell, pottery, bone, 

 wood, and even in stone. An expert with the tool was 

 able to drill through some of the hardest rocks. The 



