| Bone Tools from Kansas & Nebraska |
| First let me thank Jim Horst for contributing these examples of bone and antler tools from the Blue and Kansas River systems. Jim is a dedicated hunter and collector and was kind enough to help with these educational pages. |
| This is a good antler tine pressure flaking tool. It has enough wear on the tip to be diagnostic, but hasn't been reduced much through use. |
| This is the tip of the flaking tool pictured above. This piece has rodent chewing visable above the use/wear. This sort of rodent damage occurs when bone or antler lays out in the field or forest. Once the artifact enters the river rodent damage ceases. This artifact also exhibits river wear from contact with abrasive sediments. |
Rodent gnawing on fresh bone
| Left- Antler Tine Pressure Flaking tools. Tines are always cut part way, then snapped off. The flaker at the top of the picture has been considerably reduced from the tip by use and maintenance. |
| Below- A flesher made from the fore leg of a female buffalo. Notice the "steps" behind the opening at the top of the bone. The rough shape was flaked out of the bone, then ground smooth and symmetrical. The teeth at the scraping end were added last, and cut into the bone. Fleshers were used to remove the clinging fat and meat from the inside of fresh hides. |
| This is an exceptionally nice example in excellent condition. |
| The serration at the business end of this tool helped it grip slippery fat and tissue on wet hides. The extra care and thought the first owner put into making this tool makes it an interesting artifact. |
| Right- Bone knife and tool handles. Handles provide leverage and control. Awls, knives, cultivators and many other artifacts originally had handles. |
| Left- Handles are smoothly and evenly finished around the edges. Leg, rib, and hump bones are commonly used as handles. Handles are always convenient to grip, and fit your hand! |