Description

Plains women hung small bags often decorated with beads from their belts to keep their most important tools at hand. This one contained an awl, a shaft of bone, stone, or metal that tapered to a point and had many functions. One of the most important was to sew animal hides into garments: the awl was used to punch small holes in the hide, and then a thread made of animal sinew was laced through the holes and pulled tight.