ECI-05: Clam Shell Drilling and Tools
MATERIALS LIST:
Projectile points
Obsidian chips
Deer bone knife
Deer scapula
Scrappers
Bone antler awl
Hand bow
Pump drills,
Boards
Clam shells
Sandstone (for smoothing/shaping clam shell edges)
Hard stone for chipping
Yarn or cord for stringing drilled clams (or cordage made in other kit)
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 1
CLAM SHELL DRILLING & TOOLS
ECI – 5
SOURCE:
Mary Lee Mueller
OBJECTIVES:
To understand the concept that the natural resources available in the local
environment determined the types of tools, weapons and personal goods produced by
the early California Indians. To be aware that these items could be traded to obtain
materials not found in their own environment. To make a clamshell necklace using a
pumpdrill to experience the effort and skill involved.
SCIENCE THEMES:
Energy, systems and interactions
PROCESS SKILLS: Observing,
FOCUS WORDS:
Fall 1997
comparing, ordering and relating
Awl, projectile, pump drill, friction, natural resource, disk, barter, obsidian,
scapula, scrapper
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
These excerpts were taken from California History: Indians of California, Fall 1992.
This is the magazine of the California Historical Society.
"Over the years, the California Indians acquired a scientific knowledge of the natural resources in
their territories and invented production systems such as tools, division of labor systems, and
ecologically adaptive social mechanisms specific to each environment.
The natural potential of the environment was utilized by means of sophisticated technologies and
land management techniques for exploiting food resources from the sea, plains, and mountains.
These included burning ground cover to replenish the soil, culling animal and insect populations that
threatened favorite plants, replanting species, and pruning plants and trees. The development of these
and other techniques significantly increased the amount of energy that could be extracted from the
environment."
"A tribe's community boundaries generally included several kinds of environments, so that the
group's subsistence activity could range between valley and mountain or inland and coastal
ecosystems. Communities were usually located in ecologically optimal areas where both water and,
within a mile or two, most of the plants used as food were available. For example, among the
Cahuilla of southern California, it has been found that eighty percent of a community's resources
were within an easy day's journey.
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 2
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: (continued)
Some major food resources, such as acorns and pinion nuts were located as far as five to eleven
miles away and were abundant enough that several days or weeks away from home would be
required to gather them. Hence, some people in the community took short-term journeys, lasting days
or weeks to acquire enough food for a comfortable season's reserve. At the same time, they would
gather other foods, such as reptiles, amphibians, insects, and larvae, as well as material resources, on
these subsistence trips. The bones, vertebrae, shells, feathers, and fur thus acquired provided useful
materials for items such as tools and clothing."
"Major trade routes connected many tribes in northern, eastern and western California with tribes in
Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Baja California." Long-distance commerce along these trade routes
was extensive, providing a means whereby luxury items could be exchanged between tribes. The
traders themselves enjoyed high rank and professional, diplomatic status.
Intra- and inter-group exchange was brisk and common, with people, goods, and ideas flowing in
many directions and over long distances. From the inland people, the coastal peoples obtained
acorns, seeds, obsidian, and deerskins in exchange for shell beads, dried fish, sea otter pelts, shells,
and possibly salt.
Trading was probably a barter type, but olivella beads and clam shell beads were considered "legal
tender” throughout most of California and were also used to transact business. Knotted cords and
carved wooden counters were used as mnemonic devices for recalling figures and quantities and
intricacies of past or pending transactions."
SUGGESTED INTRODUCTION: (5
minutes)
The following are possible opening statements and questions. Due to lack of time you will not be
able to do all. Choose just one or two depending upon your emphasis.
California Indians depended upon the resources of their environment to give them what they needed
to survive. If you found yourself in a new environment without any tools, weapons, or utensils,
what would you use to survive? Lead the children to think about using what is available in their
environment.
If you and your people had lived in an area for a thousand years, how well would you know
that area??
Remind them how, when they first started school, everything was new
and strange but now they know where everything is, etc.
We always think we live in the period of history when new inventions are common, do you
think their tools and weapons changed over a period of years?
Show them the different drills and discuss how and why changes take place.
If you needed materials not found in your area, what could you do to obtain new materials?
Discuss the importance of trade and the exchange of ideas.
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 3
ACTIVITIES: (15 minutes)
Not all of these activities can be accomplished in the time available.
Select one activity and carry it through with the appropriate opening questions
leave at least ten minutes for the shell drilling activity.
Prior to passing out any materials, state in the first person that you care very much about these
materials and ask the students to treat them with respect. The following is from California History:
Indians of California:
The tools with which resources were harvested and processed were treated with respect,-carefully
and exactly made, addressed with prayers before use, and used in a manner decreed as proper.
This careful attention to whatever economic process was a hand resulted in the splendid
craftsmanship and aesthetically pleasing quality of so many California Indian objects-projectile
points, baskets, and the like.
Artifact Study
Observe the deer bone knife, bone scrapper, the bone awl, projectile points, obsidian chips and
stone scrapper.
Have the children guess the source of each item and what tasks each item accomplished or why
they may have been "invented".
Deer jaw knife was used for cutting tule stalks, scrappers for cleaning fur off of hides and thinning
the hide, awls for sewing and piercing, and the points for cutting, etc.
Have the students group which ones would be found in our area.
Explain that the obsidian came from the Mammoth Lake area.
Ask how the Indians would have obtained this material.
Point out the importance of trade and exchange of ideas and materials.
Show the shell necklace. How did Native Americans obtain these ocean shells if they didn’t live
near the sea? (travel or trade)
How were shell disks made?
What tools were needed? Tell about the pump drill.
Comparison of Simple Drills
Show the hand , bow and pump drills. Which one was probably the first to be used by the
Indians?
How have the drills improved over time?
Faster, easier to use, easier to drill harder items.
Where did Native Americans get the materials to make their drills?
Wood and string were local but any obsidian points would have required either travel or trade.
The pump drill was introduced by the Europeans along with metal bits. Explain how new
items were adopted if they made life easier. Ask the children to think of more recent examples
of this in our time.
If there is any time left after shell drilling, let them try the hand and bow drills.
Making A Shell Necklace
Show the shell necklace and discuss how and why they were made.
If the Indians lived in the foothills or near the bay, where did they get the shells?
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 4
Either they had to travel to the ocean or trade with the coastal Indians. Again, stress the importance
of trade.
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 5
How did they make these necklaces?
The rough exterior of the shell was ground off and they were broken, roughly shaped, and drilled. At
first this was done with a stone point on a shaft rolled on the leg. Later the pump drill was imported
to California by the Spaniards. The rough shell beads were strung on stiff grass and then ground on
sandstone slabs. Water was added to make an abrasive paste that aided the smoothing process. (See
On Collecting Heishi, The Wingspread Collector's Guide to Albuquerque and Corrales.)
Can you think of a modern example of a natural material being changed into a item used for
the exchange of goods?
What is money?
Let's make money!
Show a shell chipped into a disk.
Explain that the value of a necklace came not only from the materials used but also from the beauty
of the finished product. Drilling the hole in a small disk took time and skill. After drilling, more
work was necessary to sand the disk into a uniform, round shape.
Pass out the boards and drills - one for every two students.
Demonstrate how to spin the string and pump the drill. Place your hand on top of the spindle while
pumping with the other hand. It's easier to put the drill point into the cup of the shell than in the
wider area and keep watching its placement. Pass out one shell per student. If time allows, after
finishing one shell have the students chip and sand their shell into a rounded shape.
After all of the class has visited this station, string all the finished shells together and give them to
the teacher.
CONCLUSION:
Ask the students; “How will you spend your new money?”
RESOURCES:
Bean, Lowell. Indians of California: Diverse and Complex Peoples, California History, Vol. LXXI,
No. 3, Fall, 1992, pp. 303-323.
Mears, Raymond. The Outdoor Survival Handbook, St. Martins Press, N.Y., 1993, pp. 50-51.
On Collecting Heishi, The Wingspread Collector's Guide to Albuquerque and Corrales.
Whiteford, Andrew H. North American Indian Arts, Golden Press, N.Y, 1990,
p117 & p 134.
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 6
TOOLS / CLAM SHELL DRILLING ECI-5
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1 Rabbit snare
Baggie with abalone shell, clam shells, and snail shells
Box with :
baggie with 2 drilled soft rocks
Tinder bundle
Shells
Bird trap
Chert
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Box with:
2 bone daggers
Ancient stone hammer in bag
Large rock
Bone awl
Jaw bone saw
Dagger, scrapper, spear tips (in smaller box)
Obsidian chips in small box
Tule reed decoy
Bird snare
1 set deer antlers
Fire making sticks and bow
Rabbit skin, deer skin piece, gray fox skin
Separate bag with 8 wood drills, extra string for repairs, and water bottle
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Another separate bag with 8 square wooden platforms for drilling
Bag of clam shells
Arrow with obsidian point and feathers
Digging stick
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Note: Bow is separate and should be used if needed
Early California Indian Life
Clam Shell Drilling
page 7