28 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
cylinder and hammered together. One end is thin. It was 
found on the Oneida river about 20 years ago but its present 
owner is not known. The length is 24 inches. 
Fig. 17 is a sharp and slender awl from Mr 8S. L. Wier s article 
in the American naturalist of October 1879, entitled “ Were they 
mound-builders?” He said: a 
It might have been used for piercing holes in buckskin gar- — 
ments but as implements for this purpose were usually made 
of bone, with the point rounded and sharpened in a similar 
manner, and as these were obtained with comparative ease and 
were equally serviceable for sewing purposes, I think that pos- 
sibly this copper implement had a different, or at any rate an 
additional use. According to many early writers the natives 
at the time of the discovery were found in possession of orna- 
ments, necklaces, etc. of pearls, the perforating of which was 
done with a heated copper spindle. The square shape of this 
implement indicates that it has been set in a handle, and the 
point being very smooth, shows use of some kind. That it was 
intended for a drill of this description seems not improbable 
when viewed in connection with certain shell relics subset a 
found, and which are described in this article. 
A eS Ee te OE i tp a! lg Oe a AE a AS ~ 
The great neatness of this implement led to further inquiry 
and Mr Frey wrote: “ The copper awl you figure from my draw- 
ing is exact. It is just as smooth and well finished as repre- 
sented. It is the only prehistoric copper I ever found; in fact 
the only one, as far as I know, ever found in this section.” This | 
illustrates the curious elimination of early travel and habitation © 
in the Mohawk valley. East, north and west of that valley, 
native copper articles have been often found. 
The burial place was of a mixed character, for at the time he 
found this Mr Frey had not discovered the curious graves and 
relics which rewarded his labors at a later day. In his earlier 
digging he had found “at one time, in a grave, 30 arrowheads and 
a small copper awl.” In one of those opened afterward he 
found copper beads, to be mentioned later. This judicious 
observer noted the widely different character of the graves, 
concluding that they could not be those of the same people. It 
is also to be remembered that there was no large village site 
close at hand, and that part of the cemetery had been removed 
before examination. The writer has since examined this awl. 
