MICRO-DRILLS FROM THE KUNNEMANN SITE AT CAHOKIA MOUNDS
Here's a few pics of the micro-drills and associated materials collected by Gregory Perino. He understood the importance of keeping the micro-blades and cores as well as the drills. This collection is typical of the rest of the Kunnemann micro-drill assemblage. He collected these drills and about 30 other items in only 6 1/2 hours. The overwhelming majority of these drills were made from Burlington flint, precisely, Crescent Quarry, Burlington chert. Occasionally, drills were made of Kaolin chert/flint, and Mill Creek chert/flint.

 (Photo LK)

THE WHOLE AND REWORKED (bi-pointed) DRILLS
These are the whole and/or reworked drills. Many have been resharpened and are no longer their original shape or length. Some exhibit extensive use wear on the bits.

(Photo LK)

They may have been hafted by inserting one end into a piece of river cane below the knock. Cutting the cane below the knock produces a "D" shaped cross-section. The "D' shape is perfectly suited to installing a three-sided micro-drill so that no adhesive is needed. When the drill becomes dull it is removed and reinserted backwards to expose a new tip. The drills can also be easily removed for resharpening and quickly reinserted.

SNAPPED DRILLS

These are the snapped micro-drills from the collection. Many show signs of  being snapped,                                         (Photo LK)

while in use. That is, they exhibit a sort of twisted flake at the snap. This is most likely due to the torque that the drill is under when the break occurs.

SINGLE-POINTED DRILLS

(Photo LK)

Not all micro-drills are bi-pointed as this pic shows. A large number of micro-drills are used without hafting and just one point is used. Some of these may have been hafted using a larger hafting system.