Need help identifying Native American artifact.

[simpsons479]

I found this a few years back in Okoboji, Iowa where there once were a large number of Native Americans living. I found it on a beach near a historical site where a massacre had taken place. A local historian thought it was most likely from a necklace or headdress due to the hand drilled hole. I'm wondering what kind of bone/claw it is...any ideas? Thanks for looking!

 

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[pippinwhitepaws]

well..no fish in the desert..so I just guessed...

 

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[NC field hunter]

well..no fish in the desert..so I just guessed...

Once long long ago, maybe??

 

[Tnmountains]

We find them often along the rivers. They are from Catfish, I am sure they were used as a natural tool.

 

[larson1951]

Wow.. you get some big blue cats out that way don't you?
Mabey flatheads too?

we used to have huge blues and flatties and also huge pallid sturgeon and way more paddlefish.....
......but since the dams were built they are no longer around hardly

So you are saying it is a natural fish spike but that these types of spikes were used as a perforation tool by early natives?

yes it is
the majority of the cat pectoral and dorsal spikes had the tiny backward facing barbs
which were usually removed or polished away when one was used for a perforating tool

Haha

Hehe