Bone Awl

A bone awl is a pencil-like piece of bone tapered at one end to a point. The butt is often the unmodified joint end of the bone, left as a handle, or is shaped for a grip. Some are sturdy, with strong tips for heavy work; others are drawn out to fine, needle-like points (Bell 1980; Hodge 1907).

The simplest awls were made by grinding a long bone or a bone splinter to a point; a deer fibula needs only sharpening (Hodge 1907). On Washita River focus sites in Oklahoma, a deer cannon bone (metapodial) was grooved lengthwise on both faces and snapped, then each half was grooved and snapped again, so one bone gave four awls with the joint left as a handle; pieces occur at every stage (Bell 1980). Grooved abraders were used to sharpen the points (Bell 1980). Awls punched holes for sewing skins and served in quillwork, beadwork and basketry; Hodge (1907) lists further uses such as pegs and sinew shredding. Handling and use build up a heavy polish (Bell 1980). Bone awls were usually held in the hand rather than hafted (Hodge 1907). The key trait is a bone shaft deliberately ground to a sharp, polished point.

Length mostly 75–150 mm, though shorter and longer awls are fairly common (Bell 1980, Oklahoma collections; sample size not given).

Throughout North America (Hodge 1907). Awls are the most common bone object on village sites after beads: Ozark caves yielded more than 100 in three seasons, and Kelley Cavern, Arkansas, over 50 (Moorehead 1910). Turkey-bone awls are especially common in New Mexico (Hodge 1907).

Look for deliberate shaping at the tip and use polish. A bone pressure flaker has a blunted, crushed tip instead of a sharp polished point (Bell 1980). A beamer is a cannon bone with a slot worn through the shaft and bevelled concave edges; an unfinished split-bone awl blank lacks the beamer's concave outline, bevel and polish (Bell 1980). A bone needle has an eye. Long slender bone pins with decorated or widened heads are hair or garment pins (Moorehead 1910). On Oklahoma Plains Village sites, short rib-edge awls of bison bone, triangular in section with spongy bone along one side, were probably hafted (Bell 1980). Hodge (1907) warns that weaving tools, pottery tools, robe pins and pipe picks have often been lumped with awls.