I found some debris while rebuilding my ford 390?

I'm about halfway through rebuilding my ford 390 out of my '70 Galaxie. I find plenty of little metal chips in the greasy soup inside.
But I also found something which surprised me. It looks like long, tiny coil springs. And there's a whole bunch of them circulated everywhere inside of the motor. Where did these little springs come from?

Could they be cuttings from drilling for helicoils or old helicoils themselves?

Do they spring back if you bend them or do they stay bent? If they stay bent they probably are drill filings or helicoils as Ryde on stated. I would do a complete tear down and carefully inspect all surfaces for damage.

Metal chips and "spring" like material. Those springs are metal shavings. Chances are you need some serious inspection of internal parts. All not good. Even if they are heli-coil or drill filings. This means that they could of created serious damage to rotating parts and bearings. I have seen such in engines. They could even be from the bearings upon bearing failure.

Check the gaps on the connecting rods. I bet they're wandering all over the place and need replacing- crankshaft too. You said, "oily soup"- could that be mostly STP, Motor Honey or some other oil thickener to hide the noise from paper thin bearings that are a breath away from catastrophic failure.