We had a very interesting discussion in the museum about wampum and pump drills and our visiting family asked a question we didn’t know the answer to….How long were the pump drills used? So we promised to look into it and write up a feature about we found!
A quick bit of backstory here, pump drills were ingenious tools that allowed native people to start fires and drill into bead materials with much less physical effort. An example is seen here with the drill bit on the far right, the stabilizing disk above it, and the bar that has the center shaft through it and attached by a string. The bar would be spun, which would twist the sting up tight. Think similar to a little kid twisting on the swing at a playground so they can spin really fast. The bar would be pressed down, letting the center shaft spin quite fast, and then pressure would be released to allow the force of the spin to twist the string back up and repeat the process. We have an example in the museum that we allow visitors to try if you ask our staff!
This was used to carve what is often referred to as wampum, the purple and white quahog shell made into beads. Originally sukauhock was the word used to refer to the purple and wampumeag was the word for white shells. European colonists shortened wampumeag to wampum and referred to mainly the purple shell and that’s what has stuck as a name today.
When we tried to look up the history though, it seems the history of the pump drill is mostly unknown and considered a bit of a mystery. It’s believed that in what’s called the Woodland Period (1,000-3,2000 years ago) is when it was used. The current understanding is that between 500-1,000 CE, around the time it’s thought bows for hunting were developed in the Americas, is when the pump drill became a used tool. However, there’s not a clear understanding of exactly when or how it was developed. There’s several different theories, all with varying degrees of merit. Some schools of thought believe it was just natural progression of human innovation, basically saying “Of course they came up with such a tool on their own! It would only be a matter of time as this is just how humans develop tools”. Others believe that trade across oceans was more common and both the bow and the pump drill likely came from Asia where it’s thought to have its first origins, which has the tone of “It doesn’t make sense for such similar thoughts to have been invented independently, it makes more sense for one group to learn from another”.
While we’re sorry we couldn’t come up with a more distinct answer to the question, we’re so glad that we were asked and got to take on this quest for information! It’s still exciting to say that it’s been in use for AT LEAST 3,000 years!