Bone “Awls” of the Southwest

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Through conducting a microwear analysis, I argue that the use wear of the bone tools examined will determine their functional use. The collections of bone tools for this study are from various Mimbres (AD 200–1130) and Chacoan (AD 850–1250) sites (located in the North American Southwest). Many bone artifacts with narrow, pointed distal ends are defined as awls traditionally. Awls are generally defined as tools used to pierce holes in leather or other malleable substances. I argue that a detailed microwear analysis may suggest alternative uses of these types of bone tools beyond the narrow category of “awl.” Through this research I encourage my audience to ask if it is proficient to define awls by their morphology (tools with a narrow, pointed distal end) despite these tools possibly having varying functions. Through a comparison of bone tools from both types of sites in the study area, I intend to demonstrate that these bone tools commonly thought of as awls, may serve a variety of functions rather than the narrowly proscribed categories they are traditionally sorted into.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41646.0