Crossing the Borders: New Methods and Techniques in the Study of Archaeological Materials from the Caribbean

Investigating Stone Bead Drilling Techniques / 85
Figure 6.3. Side view of mold of partially drilled calcite bead, stereomicroscope.
(Figure 6.3). Drilling did not proceed very far on this bead; its shallow nature is
apparent from the side view of the borehole mold (Figure 6.3). Despite its limited
perforation, preliminary comparisons of general shape between this bead and our
experimentally drilled example are possible. One similarity between both items is
the appearance of the leading edge. Like that of the experimental piece, the leading
edge in the calcite bead is flat and has a stepped appearance down to the bottom
of the borehole. One observed dissimilarity is that the bore walls above the
immediate leading edge of the partially drilled calcite bead are more parallel than
the prominently conical walls of the experimental piece.
Figure 6.4 shows two composite SEM images of the partially drilled bead borehole.
The top image is one of the actual artifact (Figure 6.4a), while the bottom
image is of the mold (Figure 6.4b). If the two are compared, it is clear that the detail
replicated on the mold is considerable and accurate. The mold is particularly
useful for allowing the very bottom of the bore to be viewed, as it is difficult to
focus in on the very bottom of the actual artifact. The immediate leading edge, as
observed with the mold, is quite pitted. Farther up on one side of the wall there is a
large patch of polish. With the top down view, the concentric abrasion features defining
the borehole are very apparent.
The final artifact described here is a partially broken calcite tablet with two
boreholes paralleling each other; likely representing misaligned bores (Figure 6.5).
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