Primitive Deer Leg-Bone Awl

~4 3/8" long, ~1 3/9 wide, ~7/8" thick, ~3/4 ounce.

Very few tool marks, an' those don't seem to be from a file or a wheel. Nicely polished, smoothly tapered to a fine, sharp, slightly flattened tip. The tunnel in pics 1, 3 & 4 goes through to the slot at the knee.

The contrast between the finely finished working tip an' the joint end, with exposed bone-core, remnant sinew & etc is curious, indicative to me of an honest ethic about what is necessary an' what is otherwise unimportant. I am inclined to think it has some age...but can't really know.

It fits comfortably in my hand, leaving just an inch of the business end protruding between the first joint of my index finger an' the ball of my thumb. What do y'all see? Thanks for lookin'!

 

It’s cool!

 

Where did you you get it?

To me, it looks like someone found a deer carcass and tried to make an experimental "primitive" tool. The polished point is too white to have much age or use, and if it was old the bugs would have eaten the tissues by now.

 

Well...proximally it was in a box I opened to see what was there, an' whether any of it was worthy of an eBay listing. The box was packed for storage roughly 25 years ago. Before that, I'm afraid I am without an answer...yard sale or flea market, most likely, an' probably here in NW Washington state.

 

If it was used all that much, wouldn't the 'handle' end be more worn? You gotta put some leverage on an awl...

 

Yeah...depending on the specific material, its thickness, whether tanned or rawhide & etc...an' whether the crafter used gloves or was heavily calloused from using just such rough tools. I wouldn't think leverage so much as thrust along the axis, for penetration...however slight.