HOKX AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 2G7 



These examples will suffice to show how fine, abundant and wide- 

 spread these implements are in the Iroquois territory, but it might 

 be unwise to suppose they were less used elsewhere. 



Fig. 5 is one of the broad and flat forms, which have a narrow 

 and sharp point like an awl, but are otherwise suggestive of knives. 

 They are not usually sharp enough for cutting flesh or hides, and a 

 party of excavators jocosely called them paper knives. They might 

 now answer for these. They may have been inserted in war clubs, 

 "but it is more probable they were used in flaying beasts. This flne 

 example has a very angular outline, the broad surface suddenly con- 

 tracting toward the slender and sharp point. It was found by Dr 

 Hinsdale on the island at Brewerton. Fig. 26 is a flat and thin 

 bone knife from the Atwell fort. The form is broad, the outline 

 curved, and the base neatly rounded. There can be little doubt of 

 its use. Two other flne examples have been described among the 

 awls. Fig. 42 is one of the most pronounced forms. It is from 

 the Christopher site, and is in the Bigelow collection. The general 

 form is broad, the edges not quite parallel, and it is everywhere 

 polished. On the reverse side it is broadly concave. One end 

 abruptly narrows to a point, and the base slopes to a point on one 

 edge. One surface is rounded, but it becomes thin and flat toward 

 the point of the implement. This is one of the finest examples of 

 this form yet found, and its use as a skinning implement can hardly 

 be questioned. 



Fig. 43 is another flne specimen, found by Dr Hinsdale on the 

 island at Brewerton. It is flat and has nearly parallel edges. One 

 of these is curved to make a sharp point, and there is a slight 

 indentation near the rounded base. Fig. 5S is another, still finer 

 and also more definite in character. It is in the Bigelow collection, 

 and from the Christopher site. It has a double curve at the base, 

 which is rounded. The edges are thick and mostly parallel, and it 

 is worked on both sides. It is pointed, and the upper surface is 

 moderately ridged. The outline is that of a broad knife, but there 

 is no long cutting edge, and it may have been used in a war club, 

 but more probably as a skinning implement. Fig. Go is a flne article 

 of the same kind, flat and with a longitudinal groove on one side, and 

 somewhat rounded on the other. It has a broad point, and the base 



