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Hands-On Archaeology: How to Make a Shell Tinkler

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  • Hands-On Archaeology: How to Make a Shell Tinkler
Allen Denoyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert
Allen Denoyer - blog

(January 19, 2017)—Shell tinklers are a relatively common shell artifact we find in Hohokam and Salado archaeological sites in southern Arizona. Most are made of Conus shell or Olivella shell, both of which come from the Gulf of California. People strung the shells together such that they made a pleasant tinkling sound when they struck one another. The smaller the shell, the higher pitched they seem to be.

It is a relatively simple process to make shell tinklers: grind away the wider end, and make a notch or drill a hole in the narrower end. All you need are small Conus or Ollivella shells and a piece of sandstone to grind them on. Mine has a moderately coarse grit.

Completed shell tinklers. The one near my finger tips is an <em>Olivella</em> shell, and the rest are <em>Conus</em> shell.
Completed shell tinklers. The one near my finger tips is an Olivella shell, and the rest are Conus shell.

Grinding on a sandstone slab.
Grinding on a sandstone slab.

Shell #1: <em>Conus</em> shell prior to grinding.
Shell #1: Conus shell prior to grinding.

Shell #2: Beach-worn <em>Conus</em> shell.
Shell #2: Beach-worn Conus shell.

Shell #1:

After 16 minutes of grinding
After 16 minutes of grinding

After 18 minutes
After 18 minutes

After 34 minutes
After 34 minutes

Note that shell #1 is quite large for a tinkler.

Shell #1 is finished! Grinding took 1 hour and 7 minutes.
Shell #1 is finished! Grinding took 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Make sure you have completely ground off the entire end. When I started, the shell weighed 30.5 grams, and when finished it weighed 18.1 grams. (There was a lot of sand packed down in the middle of the shell that came out once the end was ground off.)

It took almost 6 minutes to grind the notch hole.
It took almost 6 minutes to grind the notch hole.

Side view
Side view

It took about an hour and a half to make this tinkler. At the outset, it was 54.5mm long; finished, it was 35.7mm.

Shell #2:

Shell #2 Finished Shell #2 finished

 

Shell # 2 is much smaller than shell #1. It is more like many ancient tinkler examples I have seen. It took 20 minutes to grind off the end, and 10 minutes to grind the notch hole.

2 thoughts on “Hands-On Archaeology: How to Make a Shell Tinkler”

  1. Darcy Hartz says:
    January 19, 2017 at 6:53 pm

    How did you bore the small hole at the tip?

    Reply
  2. Allen Denoyer says:
    January 25, 2017 at 8:39 am

    The hole in these tinkle rs is made by grinding a notch in the small end of the shell. In a couple of them i used a pointy flake to round out the hole at the end.

    Reply

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