MICRODRILLS
IN A CATEGORY OF TOOLS CALLED MICROLITHS
MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE----MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
CORE AND BLADE TECHNOLOGY
A.D. 800 TO A.D. 1450
PAGE 1 OF 3 PAGES
 BY PETE BOSTROM & LARRY KINSELLA
Micro drill gullet stone.
THIS DRILL WAS POLISHED IN THE GULLET OF A CHICKEN OR TURKEY.
ITS NOW MORE OF A CURIOSITY THAN AN ARTIFACT FOR STUDY.
GREG PERINO COLLECTION
 BY PETE BOSTROM & LARRY KINSELLA

ABSTRACT:
 MICRO-DRILLS
MISSISSIPPIAN CULTURE Micro-drills, cores and various types of drilled shell beads.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
MICRO-DRILLS, CORES AND DRILLED SHELL BEADS
CAHOKIA MOUNDS SITE--SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
MICRO-DRILLS & CORES ARE GREG PERINO COLLECTION

   The micro-drills and micro-drill cores in this article were all surface collected several years ago by Greg Perino on the Kunnemann tract on the Cahokia Mounds site. Cahokia is the largest Mississippian culture site in North America and is located in Madison and St. Clair Counties in southern Illinois. This lithic collection contains at least 1400 or more broken & whole micro-drills and micro-drill blades. The collection also includes 36 cores.

   Greg Perino recently loaned his collection of Mississippian microliths (small stone tools) to Larry for study. He was able to to do a basic separation and count of all the blades, whole drills, snapped on one end drills, snapped on both ends, small blades etc. When Larry is finished Greg plans to donate them to the Illinois State Museum where they will be kept for future study.
   Larry Kinsella is a flintknapper and for many years has worked with and for local archaeologists on many different archaeological sites. Most of the work he has done has been on and around the Cahokia Mounds State Historic site. Over the years he has experimented with various Stone Age hafting techniques and manufacturing processes. Some of that experimental archaeology he has done was helpful in interpreting the manufacturing technique and use of the micro-drills in this article.

"The earliest remains of man are associated with the implements of his manufacture in which holes have been artificially perforated"----J.D. McGuire 1896.
Micro drill with polished tip.
A WELL USED DRILL WITH POLISHED TIP----1/4 inch (6mm) LONG
MICRO-DRILLS
BY PETE BOSTROM & LARRY KINSELLA

   Drilling or perforating materials such as bone, shell, ivory, antler, stone or wood is a technological skill that was first invented in the distant past archaeological record. The earliest examples date to a period in time when Neanderthals were still living in Europe and the Near East. The oldest scientifically recognized drilled beads were made of ostrich eggshells. They were discovered in an early Later Stone Age stratum in Border Cave, in South Africa and date to sometime between 45,000 and 33,000 years ago.

Illustrations of four different drilling techniques.
CLICK ON PICTURE FOR LARGE IMAGE
FOUR DIFFERENT DRILLING DEVICES
FROM "A STUDY OF THE PRIMITIVE METHODS OF DRILLING", J.D. McGUIRE 1896.

   Many different primitive hole drilling devices have been invented by different cultures around the world. These four drawings illustrate four of them, although there are many more. The one on the left is a bow drill, the next one is a pump drill, then a disc drill and the one to the right is an Eskimo strap drill.
   There is no way of knowing which, if any, of these techniques were used to drill shell beads at Cahokia. It's only logical to theorize that one of these fairly simple machines might have been used. Only the stone drill bits and some of the drilled shells have survived. Most of the lesser stable materials that would have been used to make a drilling device have decayed long ago. But it wouldn't be impossible to find evidence of one. There has been some wooden objects found at Cahokia. In Mound 72 some of the wooden cedar stretchers were preserved and in feature 227 there was some matting and bark preserved. Also in feature 237 there was a section of twisted knotted cord.

  The first drill must have been developed from an awl. An awl is defined as a small pointed tool for piercing holes in leather, wood and other soft materials. The first drill was probably held in one hand against the material to be drilled and simply turned back and forth until a hole was bored through.

Large shell bead and hafted micro-drill.
SHELL BEAD AND HAFTED MICRO-DRILL
THE MICRO-DRILL IS GREG PERINO COLLECTION

   The stone micro-drill laying in the hole of this large flat disc shell bead is a perfect fit. It's one of the larger drills in the collection and the bead is one of the largest examples from the Cahokia Mounds site area. There have been hafting experiments of micro-drills done by different people over the years. Dan and Phyllis Morse (1983) reports on experiments done by Michael Sierzchula in 1980. He hafted the drills in freshly cut cane that was cut near a joint (growth node)  so the joint would stop the drill from pushing in too deep. The spongy pith in the center of the cane is strong enough to hold the drill without any other fixing agent.

   Large numbers of drilled objects begin to appear 34 to 28 thousand years ago during the Aurignacian period in Europe. Excavations in caves and open air sites show that an explosion of sudden and innovative cultural changes took place. People begin to use musical instruments which indicates possible ceremony, ritual and dance. Plus all forms of art appears at this time which signifies the full emergence of modern symbolic expression. Personal adornment in the form of pierced objects also becomes evident in abundance at this time. Bead making and the technology to drill holes has been an important part of human development and social structures for a long time.

Micro-drill core. Micro-drill core with large area of step fracturing.
CLICK ON EITHER PICTURE FOR A LARGE IMAGE OF 11 DIFFERENT CORES
CORES
CAHOKIA MOUNDS SITE---SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
GREG PERINO COLLECTION

    Cores are not the desired products of manufacture. They were simply thrown away after being reduced by striking off long narrow flakes of stone that were in turn used to make the desired end product, in this case micro-drills.
   Experiments that have duplicated micro-blades (Morse 1983) for the production of micro-drills are most successful when using bipolar percussion. This technique involves placing a core on an anvil (another rock) and striking the core from above with a hammerstone. The flakes produced by this process tend to have flat release surfaces and little bulb of percussion. Bipolar percussion produces cores that are barrel shaped and flakes removed from both ends.
   Both of the cores in this picture show blade removals that hinged off before traveling the full length of the core. The one on the right is an exaggerated example of this. The ideal flake removal would be one that fractures off the entire length of the core.
CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

1896, "A Study of the Primitive Methods of Drilling", by J.D. McGuire, pp. 707, 721, 734, 737.
1912, "Handbook of North American Indians, North of Mexico", by Frederick Webb Hodge, pp. 401-403.
1976, "The Evolution of Man", by J. Jelinek, p. 175
1978, "Jewelry of the Prehistoric Southwest", by E. Wesley Jernigan, pp.197-201.
1983, "Archaeology of the Central Mississippi Valley", by Dan F. Morse and Phyllis A. Morse. pp. 222-224.
1988, "Encyclopedia of Human Evolution & Prehistory," by Ian Tattersall, E. Delson & J. V. Couvering, pp 63-64.
1989, "The Cahokia Atlas", by Melvin Fowler, pp. 229-230.
1999, "The Mound 72 Area", by Melvin L. Fowler, J. Rose, Barbara V. Leest & Steven R. Ahler. pp. 132-137
2002, Personal communications with Larry Kinsella.

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