354 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



is there confusion as to how to classify forms but there is often 

 no agreement as to parts described. One authority may arrange his 

 forms by the blade point, another by the style of notching, and 

 still another by some marked characteristic, as serration or beveling. 

 ^Manifestly, for the purposes of description some standard should be 

 applied. One of the best systems is that used by Thomas \Mlson in 

 his, "Arrow Points, Spearheads and Knives of Prehistoric Times." 

 National Museum Report for 1897. (Consult also Moorehead, 

 Stone Age; Beauchamp, Aboriginal Chipped Implements of New 

 York, N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 16.) 



Arrow shaft rubber. Among the rarer abrading tools are grooved 

 sandstone cobbles or fragments of rock, having long grooves approxi- 

 mately the size of an arrow shaft. These implements are thought to 

 be shaft rubbers and designed to smooth and polish arrow shafts or 

 other spindles. These rubbers are always made of some gritty stone, 

 useful as an abrasive. Some are of a size easily held in the hand, 

 others heavy blocks though portable, and still others are large 

 boulders. 



Awls, bone. Long splinters of bone, and occasionally tubular 

 bones, sharpened at one end (in some cases both ends ) are termed 

 awls. There are several types of awls, and types can be multiplied 

 as various differences are thought to separate varieties. The general 

 forms are : 



1 Sharpened splinters, whether rough or poHshed, of various 

 lengths from i to 10 inches or more. Some have rounded ends and 

 many are highly polished by long usage. The splinter awls vary 

 from blunt specimens in which the point starts from an abrupt angle, 

 to points that taper gradually and are beatitifully founded. 



2 Shaped splinters that are entirely rounded, no angular lines 

 remaining, these being quite rare. 



3 Tubular awls with niblike points (like a pen point) and made 

 from bird bones or the leg bones of certain small mammals. 



4 Joint end aw^ls, which as the name implies have the natural 

 joint at the upper or handle end. 



5 Jaw bone awls made from entire jaws or segments, sharpened 

 on one end. 



6 Engraved awls. 



7 Perforated awls, etc. 



Awls may be flat with flat, irregular or rounded edges, or they may 

 be solid cvlinders. Thev mav be double ended, or have one end in 



