Are They All Awls?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th 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 collection of bone tools for this study are from Chacoan (AD 850-1250) and various Mimbres (AD 200-1130) sites (located in the North American Southwest). Traditionally many bone artifacts with narrow, pointed distal ends are defined as awls. Functionally, 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 solely 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 into which they are often sorted.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52665