Hard stones such as hematite and quartz cannot be drilled with a pointed chipped flint drill unaided by abrasives, a conclusion drawn from our studies in functional analysis. Therefore, the finding of drilled, hard stone beads at Neolithic Jarmo presented a technological question which was answered by a study of the flint drills and beads excavated at the site. Hard stones were probably drilled by a modification of the prevailing flint drilling technique in which a loose abrasive was used in combination with a flat-ended flint drill. This produced a more efficient bearing surface than the pointed drill and as such was able to effect cutting and/or grinding of the hard stone. Since vertical pressure was needed for the task, we concluded that a bow drill with a cap stone was in use at the time. The differing times needed to make beads of soft stone as opposed to those of hard stone suggests that hard stones may have been a sort of status marker.