THE BOW-DRILL IN NORTH AMERICA By PAUL S. MARTIN T HAS been generally agreed by various authorities that the bow-drill, I whether used for fire-making or for drilling, was confined to northern North America. Wissler says, . . . among the Eskimo we find drills tuned by a strap pulled back and forth and also operated by a strong bow. . . . The only other New World localities in which these forms of drilling occur are among the Northern Algonkin. From the native sketches in Mexican codices and the references of early writers, we infer that the universal mode of drilling was by rolling between the palms of the hands. . . . It appears that in aboriginal times practically the whole of the New World kindled fire with the simple hand-drill. Only among the Eskimo and a few of the adjoining Indians were other types of drill in use, as may be inferred from the preceding dis- cussion.‘ McGuire makes the following statement, The use of the bow-drill in America appears to be confined chiefly to the Alaskan and North Canadian aborigines, among whom it is quite common.* Hough reports, Among the northern Indians in central and northern Canada, however, the bow is used. Sir Daniel Wilson, in his work on Prehistoric Man, notes that the Red Indians of Canada use the drill bow. . . . It is perhaps true that some of the Dakotas did use the bow at times, but it is not correct to place it as the customary tool of the whole stock. On the contrary, there is evidence that they used the simple means. . . . Thomas C. Battey says that the Sac-Fox Indians (Algonquian stock) used a soft- wood drill and a hard-wood hearth. “The drill was worked by a bow.” . . . Morice mentions the fact that the Carrier used a bow-drill with a hand piece for drilling fine holes.” Skinner, likewise, states that the bow-drill was used for fire-making by the Northern Saulteaux, the Menomini, and the Plains Cree.6 Speck describes and figures a horizontal chest bow-drill used by the Huron, but expresses no opinion as to its origin or antiquityP

1 C. Wissler, The American Indian, 132 el seq., Oxford University Press, 1922. 1 J. D. McGuire, A Study of the Primitive Methods of Drilling, USNM-R for 1894; 725, 1896. a W. Hough, Fire-Making Apparatus in the United States National Museum, USNM-P 73: 2425,1928. 4 A. G. Morice, Notes on Western DCnks, Trans. Canadian Inst. Session 1892-93: 143. 6 A. Skinner, Notes on the Eastern Cree and the Northern Saulteaux, AMNH-AP 9: 138, 1911. Material Culture of the Menomini, MAIHF-INM, Mix. 20: 301, 1921. Notes on the Plains Cree, AA, n.s., 16: 81,1914. 6 F. Speck, Notes on the Material Culture of the Huron, AA, n.s., 13: 223, 1911. 94 YAPTIN] BOW-DRILL IN NORTH AMERICA 95

Winchell figures a bow-drill which he alleges is like that used by the Da- kota.’ Birket-Smith, in writing of the fire drill with bow or thong, is of the opinion that, . . . the fire drill with bow or thong drive occurs among a large number of sub-arctic tribes, both of Algonkian and Athapaskan stock, extending westwards as far as the Tahltan. They are also found further south by the Great Lakes (Iroquois, Menom- ini, Sauk and Fox, Ojibway) and on the northern plains among the Plains Cree and perhaps the Northern Dakota. . . . The fire drill with bow and thong drive among the Athapaskan tribes in Alaska, such as the Kaiyuhkhotana and Kutchin. are easily explainable as the consequence of Eskimo influence; but what is the posi- tion with regard to all that long series of other occurrences? Just here it is of the greatest importance to observe that no report from the seventeenth or eighteenth century makes any mention of these forms of fire drills, whereas the simple type is repeatedly referred to. It would be quite incredible that not one of the many French authors who at that time wrote about the Laurentian regions had mentioned the bow-drill if it were known at all. The only explanation is. . , that the bow-drill . . . has been introduced to the eastern Indians from Europe. To this day the bow- drill is used for fire-making in Macedonia and Sweden. . . . On the other hand the fire drill of the Eskimos and Alaskan Indians probably originates from Asia, where bow-drills are exceedingly common everywhere. . . . At some place in Northwest Canada the boundary must be drawn between the type imported via Europe and that imported via Asia.”8 No one yet, to the best of my knowledge, has stated that the bow-drill has been found further south than the Great Lakes region; and certainly, no one has ever intimated that it occurred as far south as the Pueblo area of the southwestern United States. It is true that James Stevenson, in describing the collections obtained in New Mexico, mentions a bow-drill; but he describes, figures, and evidently means a pump-drill.@ Kidder and Guernsey, and Morris describe and illustrate fire-drills, but these are undoubtedly simple hand-drills.’” N. H. Winchell, The Aboriginesof Minnesota, Minn. Hist. Sac., 482,1911. a K. Birket-Smith, The Caribou Eskimos. Report of the Fifth Thule Expedition, vol. 5, pt. 2: 97-98. Copenhagen, 1929. J. Stevenson, Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Indians of New Mexico and Arizona, in 1879, BAE-R 2: 370, 1883. Illustrated Catalogue of the Collections Obtained from the Pueblos of Zuni, New Mexico, and Wolpi, Arizona, in 1881, BAE-R 3: 582,1884. lo Kidder and Guernsey, Archaeological Explorations in Northeastern Arizona, BAE-B 65: 120-121. E. H. Morns, Antiquities of the Region between the Mancos and La Plata Rivers, in Southwestern Colorado, BAE-R 33: 178,1919. 96 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N.s., 36, 1934

Nordenskiold and Fewkes report fire-drills from Mesa Verde, but these, too, appear to be of the simple hand-type." Nevertheless, we now have positive and unquestionable evidence that the bow-drill was used by the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. In the collections of Field Museum of Natural History, there are a bow, drill with stone point, two fire-drills, two hearths, and two nuts or hand- pieces. The bow, drill-spindle with stone point, and a nut or hand-piece are shown in figure 1.

FIG. l-Bow, drill-spindle, and handpiece from a cliff-ruin in Grand Gulch Canyon, San Juan county, Utah. Field Museum Collection. These specimens, and others, were excavated in a cliff house in Grand Gulch canyon, San Juan county, Utah, in 1890 by Charles McLoyd and C. C. Graham of Mancos, Colorado. The Reverend C. H. Green, who had left his home in Kentucky on account of his health and taken charge of the Baptist church, Durango, Colorado, purchased these above-mentioned

11 E. Nordenskitild,The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde, Stockholm, 1893. J. W. Fewkes, Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Spruce-tree House, BAE-B 41. Antiquities of the Mesa Verde National Park: Cliff Palace, BAE-B 51. MARTIN] BOW-DRILL IN NORTH AMERICA 97 specimens and others in 1891 from McLoyd and Graham. The entire col- lection was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and was later purchased by Field Museum. I showed the bow, drill, and handpiece to Dr. A. V. Kidder, who stated that in his opinion these articles were genuine and could not possibly be considered fraudulent. It is not possible to state with any precision to what horizon these arti- cles belong, although in all probability they may be classed as Pueblo 111. However, and this is the important point, they are undoubtedly pre-Colum- bian and are therefore of great interest and significance. Dr. Kidder also concurs in this. The bow is of willow, is 59 centimeters long, (measured in a straight line from end to end) and 1.2 centimeters in diameter. The bow-string consists of a two-strand yucca (probably Y.jilamentosa) cord, twisted clockwise. The drill-spindle, made from cottonwood, is 23.4 centimeters long, including the stone drill point, and measures 2.5 centimeters in diameter. The base of the stone drill point, which is chalcedony, is fixed in a socket, 2 centimers deep, in the drill spindle, and is held in place by pitch gum and yucca fibre. The nut or hand-piece, abo made from cottonwood, is 8 centimeters long, 2.2 centimeters wide, and 2.5 centimeters thick. In addition to the socket seen in the illustration, there are two others in one of the other faces. Even were the bow and hand-piece lacking, one would be forced to con- clude that this drill-spindle is part of a bow-drill outfit, because of the cord- worn groove which girdles the spindle and because of the conic, well-pol- ished crown. By a close examination of the latter, it is easy to see that it has been turned in a socket, thus polishing and pointing it. If this drill-spindle were to be used as a simple drill, twirled between the palms of the hands, there would be no string-furrow or conic crown, and the spindle would probably have to be double its present length. These same observations hold true for the fire-spindles, which were mentioned earlier. It seems inconceivable to me that only one cliff-house village should have knowledge of this efficient tool, especially when we know that Grand Gulch canyon, Utah, is full of cliff-houses which were all built, occupied and deserted at about the same time. I do not know of any major invention which one village possessed to the exclusion of the others in the Southwest- ern area. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that since a bow-drill was employed by one Pueblo unit, other Pueblos must have had knowledge of this device.

FIELDMUSEUM OF NATURALHISTORY CHICAGO,ILLINOIS