Quinebaug River Prehistoric Archaeological District

A Connecticut State Archaeological Preserve

Many different types of stone tools were found at the district's sites. Some, such as this broken drill from Site 22-31, have distinctive shapes that help archaeologists determine their age. The base of this drill, shown at the bottom of the picture, is very similar to the Late Woodland points found elsewhere in the district, which suggests it was made around 800 years ago. The base of such tools, called the “hafting element”, is often the most informative part of a drill or point. Archaeologists always have to be careful when analyzing artifacts. Some types of tools look very similar to each other, even though they may have been made thousands of years apart. For example, this drill looks very much like tools made nearly 10,000 years ago in the Southeast.

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