HORN AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 255 



horn, and are commonly classed with awls, though often termed 

 punches. It may be best to assign them this name here, though 

 this places them with cylindric articles usually having rounded ends. 

 While they differ much in form from these, they seem to belong 

 nowhere else ; and even then we do not know their use. 



While a warlike character has been contended for in the case of 

 some of the larger and longer forms, some persons have seen in the 

 more slender examples pins, either for the hair or apparel. The 

 latter supposition is questionable in most cases ; and those of great 

 length and sharpness would have been neither comfortably nor safely 

 worn in the hair. Some may be assigned to this use. Many com- 

 bine a broad, knifelike form with the sharp point of an awl, if such 

 they are. They seem not sharp enough for cutting, but would have 

 been useful in skinning any animal. Among the Iroquois stone axes 

 or celts were not abundant, and were probably prized. For deer- 

 skinning the bone knife did just as well. It was lighter, more easily 

 made, was sometimes distinct, but often combined the awl point 

 with it, as our pocket knives practically do. 



While the so called awls were often made of small splinters of 

 bone, the larger ones often left some natural feature almost 

 untouched. The jawbone of some animal would be sharpened, the 

 teeth perhaps being still in place, but this is rare. Long awls quite 

 commonly leave one joint almost unaltered. This is a frequent 

 feature of smaller forms. The bills of water birds were often util- 

 ized, and fish spines required but moderate change, some none at 

 all. Most of these will be illustrated here, but the diversity of 

 form is endless. 



We need not raise the question whether the sharpened splinter, 

 requiring a handle, or the larger implement requiring none, had 

 priority in time. Here they coexist, but it may be advantageous to 

 treat them separately, as far as it can be done. Yet many large 

 awls are formed from splinters, and small ones occur with one joint, 

 almost or quite unaltered. Another evident distinction will be 

 found between flat and cylindric awls, and between these and the 

 frequent and fine three-sided forms. These distinctions are con- 

 venient in description, but have no other value. The maker simply 

 fashioned the awl according to the original form of the bone. There 



