The Mescalero Apache Bow-Drill

Type Title Author Additional Authors Year Publisher Copyright ISBN URL
Article The Mescalero Apache Bow-Drill M. E. Opler 1935 Wiley & American Anthropological Association URL

Description:

In an article which recently appeared in the AMERICAN ANTHRPOLOGIST Paul S. Martin furnished evidence that the bow-drill, hitherto thought to be confined to northern North America, was used by the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest. I am able to confirm Dr. Martin’s conclusion of a southern extension of the distribution of the bow-drill by data I have gathered from the Mescalero Apach Indians, who ranged, before reservation days, over what is now western Texas, southeastern New Mexico, and northern Mexico. According to my Mescalero ifnormants the bow-drill was employed for making fires by those who had difficulty with the hand-drill. The use of the latter was much more common, however.