This complete bone awl was just one of many bone tools that were recovered during excavation in 1995 at the Kermit Hayes No. 1 site. Awls were usually made from deer bone and used as a perforating tool in soft material, like hides, and possibly in basket and pottery manufacturing. The artifacts were donated in 2007 to the Kansas Historical Society. The site, atop a ridge in Rice County, was a Great Bend aspect (ancestral Wichita) village. It is part of an Archaeological District for the National Registration of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Bone Awl from the Kermit Hayes No. 1 Site, 14RC3 - 1