The eight artifacts in this picture illustrate a range

of different break patterns, manufacturing debris and

a finished product, a drilled bead. The small core,
at far left, was discarded as no longer useful by the

Cahokia Indian who last used it. In the row of six

blades, the long slender flake on the left was struck
off a core but no attempt was made to finish it into a

drill. It represents a knappers' castoff. According to

Morse (1983) the most desirable blade is one that is

both narrow and thick. One that could be easily

fashioned into a cylinder shape. The next one to it is

a nice long finished drill that has not had much use.
The third one over has seen a lot of use from both

ends. The fourth one over is a very small fine tipped

micro drill. It's much smaller that the average size

found at Cahokia. The two on the far right were both

snapped---probably from use. The one on the end was

snapped on both ends and the second one over was
snapped only on the upper end. The flat disc shell bead

is the most common type found at Cahokia. It was drilled,

as all of them probably were, with stone drills.
   The shell bead in this picture measures 5/8 inch (1.6cm)

in diameter.