Pre-historical tools hoe

The long spine that runs the length of the bone may be easily broken off after a few deep saw cuts have been made. Portions of the bone may be broken away to give the blade a more symmetrical appearance. After the edge has been beveled and ground sharp, the hoe blade is ready for mounting in a split and notched wooden handle. So-called squash knives also were made from the scapulae of large mammals.

These tools were made by selecting a portion of the broken shoulder blade and grinding the thin interior bone edge sharp. Such tools would have served well in slicing soft plant materials.

Scoops were made from the bison horn core and accompanying portion of the frontal bone. These tools were probably made by breaking off the desired piece of the skull and grinding the exposed edge sharp. Horn scoops were probably used as hand-held digging tools.

Saw-tooth-edged tools were commonly made from the long bones of large animals, particularly the metatarsals long foot bones of bison and elk. By breaking the distal end off at an angle and then sharpening and serrating the exposed edge, the tool could be used to strip the fatty tissues from the inner surfaces of fresh hides.

Tools for scraping and smoothing the inner surfaces of hides were made by breaking off the heads of a leg bone of a bison or other large mammal, exposing rough cancellous interior bone. Deer jaws were used in an unmodified state for threshing grasses. The front portion was frequently worked away and polished smooth. The ribs of bison and elk as well as the long bones of deer were sometimes drilled with holes for use in straightening arrow shafts. When arrow shafts were heated, these wrenches helped remove warps or irregularities.

Fishhooks were made by two methods depending on the bone used. Toe bones of deer were cut and split lengthwise. The exterior surface of the bone was then removed by grinding, leaving only the hook-shaped ridge of bone inside.

Larger fishhooks were made by grooving and grinding oval-shaped pieces of a split rib. Awls, used as leather punches in sewing hides, were made from a variety of bones. The ulnae of deer could be cut, and then ground and polished to form a sharp tip. Splinters of rib and long bone were also ground into awls. Hollow bird bones also were sometimes broken and split to form awls.

So-called quill flatteners are flat-ended tools made from long splinters of mammal bone. The rounded and flattened ends of these tools are thought to have been used in flattening porcupine quills for use as decoration.

They may also have been used as pressure flakers in flintknapping or for smoothing in pottery making. Like bone, antler is tough and resilient. Unlike bone, however, antler is relatively solid and varies greatly in form among individual deer. Antlers are grown by male deer and are shed each winter. Antlers were perhaps most important to prehistoric groups for use as flintknapping tools. Soft hammer batons for controlled percussion flaking were made from the basal portions of antlers by cutting them to length and grinding off the rough burr at the base.

Antler tips, cut to lengths of 3 to 10 inches, were used as pressure flakers. Antler tips were sometimes cut and drilled to make conical arrow points.

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Hunting Technology. Kris Hirst K. Kris Hirst. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. Her work has appeared in scholarly publications such as Archaeology Online and Science. Learn about our Editorial Process. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Hirst, K. Prehistoric Stone Tools Categories and Terms.

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