Bone Hairpin

[sarahsue]

Found this bone hairpin close to the pipe I posted. Its a little over 5 inches and thinner than a pencil. Its broken so its going to need some extra Gomer attention.

[Ron Kelley]

Hey Sarah Sue, That is an awesome artifact. You have sure found some nice items on that spot.

[sarahsue]

Thanks. Sorry about those pics. Its the main reason that I don't post much stuff. I took the second one with a camera. If I can't read the date on that penny then I know its crappy, It has really nice polish on it. My name is actually Keith. You have a great day Ron.

[redrocks]

That's a cool find. Fragile

[Glacial Pebble]

Very nice!

[Tam]

Now that’s a nice find . I would just freak .

[gregszybala]

Something you don't find around here, nice!

[sarahsue]

Bone artifacts are hard to recover without damaging them when digging......your worst nightmare is hitting something like this, while expanding the hole. Sometimes I have hit rocks with the shovel expanding the search site, and 99% of the time.....its a rock. The bone sounds like pottery when you first touch it with your butter knife. I can tell you if its a piece of chert, sandstone rock or a pebble stone, pottery, and how big it is. Yes there is a method for digging artifacts like the Archs. but I don't have that much time. I do keep breaking the walls back with my digging trowel to keep looking, but your going to have to make that decision, when its time use the shovel. Its just like the plow, but
can go deeper when your on location. And its all underground.

[Lindenmeier-Man]

What Greg said applies here too ...Small fragile bones just do not make it especially with rodents knawing on them by rodents, for the calcium .... JJ

[SDhunter]

Pretty nice to find that

[jmccarthy]

Maybe a porcupine quill? Commonly used by the Native Americans for decoration, or could be natural. Do you have reservations or porcupines in your area?

[Bone2stone]

This particular specimen is bone.
Porcupine quills are actually specialized "hair".
What [sarahsue] has posted is most likely "Deer" (leg bone)
>It's use on the other hand is questionable<
Sure it could be utilized as a hair pin but there are other more promising uses are out there as well.
As smooth as they usually are it stands to reason that it would not stay in place and would be a constant source of "fix-it" hair woes.
I used to have butt length hair and used a pencil a lot to hold it out of the way. Roll it up stick a pencil through it.
Although it worked it did not work for long.
So if a pencil would not stay, bone being heavier and "Slicker," would present a great deal of aggravation.
Braid and ties was my norm. (Never rubber bands, screw up nice hair quick)
I have found many of them over the years and I think their primary use was as a weaving tool.
These peoples were a basket weaving culture and bone is a durable material.
Weave "fishing nets" would work as well.
Some envision them as drills, but that is not feasible, ever try to drill a hole with a knitting needle just won't work.
Could be utilized to pin garments together as well "cloak/jacket" what ever the need.
So that is my input.
Any other ideas out there?

Bone2stone

[sarahsue]

Not a quill but bone, and highly polished. I found another close by a few years back. Like bone2stone said, it's just a generic term for this type of bone artifact. Thanks for the information bone2stone. I would assume its deer bone also, just like the awls I have found. They do look similar to a knitting needle, so that theory would hold more water. Thanks again.