Having learned a bit about machining, and being a fan of John Plant's youtube channel "Primitive Technology" [1], I'm amazed that this happened at all. It's quite the skill set to learn.

Having watched him do "fire by friction" many times, I can see where drilling holes naturally arises as a result.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAL3JXZSzSm8AlZyD3nQdBA

Be sure to turn on subtitles

To be fair iteration on this sort of craft probably happened a lot faster back then than today. When you are done gathering food and firewood for the day, all you have left to do is to tinker with this sort of stuff by the fire before you go to sleep for the night. Too many distractions today for many people to tinker on projects and invent new stuff, and thanks to mass media people tend to focus on distant things they might have no influence over vs the things in front of them.

Sewing is a primitive skill that I think gets overlooked. If you spend enough time backpacking, you'll eventually end up with a hole in something, and realize how useful it is to have a needle and thread in your kit.

Yesterday I fixed a tear in a leather seat in my car by sewing it; such a simple way to feel productive and resourceful.