87 
Bone and antler objects of unknown use are shown in Plate XVII, 
figures 1 to 9, 13, 14, 18, and 21 to 28. A thin tool, not illustrated (Cat. 
No. VIII-F-13259) , is made from the back part of a deer metatarsus and 
has one end ground off at a sharp slant. Figures 1 to 3, and 5 show spatu- 
late objects of bone. One wuth one end missing (Cat. No. VIII-F-11731) 
is made from a thin piece of bone, perhaps part of the plate of a deer 
scapula; both sides and edges are highly polished. The object in figure 3 
was made from the distal half of the ulna of a dog. The paddle-shaped 
object in figure 1 has a thin, well-finished blade and is highly polished. 1 
Another specimen (Cat. No. VIII-F-12895) is similar, except that it is 
only half as long and lacks the knob at the smaller end. There is also 
what seems to be an unfinished specimen of the same kind as the one in 
figure 1. The object in figure 2 is shaped like a scalpel, and the specimen 
with the oblique edge at one end, made from the dorsal part of a deer 
metatarsus, seen in figure 5, also looks like one. There is another specimen, 
made from the same kind of bone, but with the point more knife-like, 
although the edges are not sharp (Cat. No. VIII-F-10831). The purpose 
of the object in figure 4 is also uncertain, but it may have been an awl. A 
specimen made from a tibia, possibly of a fox (Cat. No. VIII-F-11978) , 
seems to be in process of manufacture into a gouge-like tool, similar to a 
finished one found by Mr. White, which seems to have been made from the 
same kind of bone. The long, sloping, broken edges of our specimen have 
been partly smoothed, but the cellular part of the bone was not removed, 
and what would probably have been the cutting edge has not been finished. 
Another gouge-like tool (Cat. No. VIII-F-10808) is made from the smaller 
end of a metacarpal, probably of the Canada goose. Parts of several 
incisions, perhaps ornamental, on one side, suggest that the object had been 
much larger. The right lower jaw of a bear (Plate XVII, figure 18) has 
the articular condyle removed and almost the entire margin of the coronoid 
process ground and sharpened. All the teeth except one, a root of which 
remains in place, seem to have been removed bodily. This object may 
have been a pottery marker, the sharpened coronoid probably being used 
to make the lines on pot rims, w r hereas the ramus, as is suggested by the 
worn and polished appearance of the alveolar border, formed the handle. 
Another object derived from a jaw consists of half of the lower mandible 
of a beaver, with the artificially sharpened incisor tooth in place and the 
articular condyle and coronoid removed, apparently so that it could be more 
conveniently held while the tooth was being sharpened, or that the ramus 
could be retained as a handle. A rib with four deep notches on one side 
is seen in Plate XVII, figure 14; it may be in process of manufacture into 
a small harpoon point, but the notches may also be ornamental. A per- 
forated object made from the ulna of a bear is seen in the same plate, 
figure 28. The proximal articular end of the bone has been almost entirely 
effaced by grinding and cutting, and the marrow hollow was exposed in 
forming the point. No signs of wearing can be seen in the hole. A few other 
implements, mostly derived from splinters of deer bones, although they may 
be unfinished awls, have such crude, irregularly shaped points, that they 
may have been used for some other purpose, possibly as pottery markers. 
i Similar objects have been found in Onondaga sites in Jefferson co., N.Y, ( See Beauchamp, 
4, figs. 63, 64). 
