92 
Units for Cup and Pin Game 
Objects made by drilling a large hole through the proximal end and a 
smaller hole through the distal extremity, or by cutting off the proximal 
end and drilling the distal end, of proximal phalanges of the deer (Plate 
XV, figure 13), are found on most Iroquoian sites. A few are made of 
middle phalanges, and others have additional holes through the wall at 
the lower end. These objects were probably units for the well-known cup 
and pin game. 
Flattened Deer Phalanges 
Phalanges of the deer, flattened on the front and back (Plate XV, 
figure 14), in some cases slanting from the middle to both ends, some of them 
looking like whistles, and others having a triangular transverse diameter, 
many of them showing incised and burnt markings and pits, have been 
found on Iroquoian sites of the late pre-European period, most of them 
being from Huron and Mohawk-Onondaga sites. Their use is unknown, 
but the markings suggest that they were used in a game similar to dice. 
Turtle-shell Rattles 
A few perforated fragments of painted turtle shells, mostly of the 
plastron, have been found at Iroquoian sites of the late pre-European 
period. They may be parts of rattles. Whole shells of the southern box 
turtle, with several perforations, which may have been either knee or 
hand rattles (Plate XV, figure 22), have been discovered at post-European 
Iroquois sites. 
Tubes 
A few large tubes, of unknown use, made from leg bones of a large 
mammal, have been found at Neutral sites of the archaic 1 and transitional 
periods (Plate XV, figure 11), and one, the only decorated specimen, on a 
Huron site of the late pre-European period. 2 Other tubes, but smaller 
and chiefly made from deer radii, dog tibiae and femora, also a few tubes 
of bird bones with notches on the more prominent angles, called “tally 
bones” by local collectors, have been found at several Iroquois sites of the 
post-European period. Many of them are highly polished and others, in 
addition to the notches, bear incised decoration (Plate XV, figure 12). 
They are all too large for beads and their precise use is unknown. 
Pipes 
A pipe made from the proximal phalanx of a wapiti by removing the 
proximal end and making a hole through the distal articular facet for the 
reception of the stem, was found on a Neutral site of the late pre-European 
period. Several made from deer scapulae were found on a Mohawk- 
Onondaga site, and on a Neutral site in Brant county. Only one pipe 
made of antler has been found; it is from a post-European Iroquois site. 3 
i See Wintemberg: Uren, PI. XXIII, fig. 16. 
7 See Boyle: Archaeological Report, Fourth Annual Report of the Canadian Institute (Session of 1890-61), 
fig. 132. 
*See Boyle: 1891 Report, op. cit., fig. 71. 
