GROUND OR PECKED STONE

Manos and Metates

As heretofore, manos far outnumber metates in the deposit. An explanation of this inequitable representation of milling stones has already been discussed in some detail (Treganza and Malamud, 1950; p. 140), viz., that the more rapid wear of the nether stone periodically called for manos of somewhat varying shapes to conform to the changing contour of the metate throughout its serviceable life. Proof to substantiate this thesis is lacking, but it appears to be a reasonable possibility. Also, the practice of pecking manos to increase the effectiveness of their grinding surfaces must have resulted in considerable breakage, as judged by the large number of fragments.

Of 2,556 manos and 329 metates, whole and fragmentary, 962 and 79 respectively, were classifiable. The descriptive categories derived from the 1947 data proved adequate in defining the limits of variability and patterning displayed by our recent acquisitions. Some pieces exhibit technological refinement of types earlier described.

Metates

Metates are of three types, called here deep basin, shallow basin, and flat slab. As was true last season, the material is predominantly sandstone for all three forms.

Type I, deep basin (fig. 5, a, c, e).—These are the most abundant. Fifteen complete specimens and seventeen fragments were recovered. In both form and size there exists a close parallel between this type and those associated with the Oak Grove Culture of the Santa Barbara area.

Type II, shallow basin (fig. 5, b, d; pl. 18, c right).—This type is represented by fifteen complete and eleven fragments.

Type III, slab (fig. 5, f; pl. 18, c).—Like type II, the slab metate is less common, being known only through eleven complete and ten fragmentary specimens.

The distribution of metates through the deposit was not as random as that of manos. Many of the complete specimens occur among features or with burials. Fragments were encountered throughout the excavation, but were most highly concentrated in features consisting of large aggregates of stone. No depth table has been presented for metates, as it is assumed that the mano distribution reflects a more complete picture for these related tools; however, the deep-basin form seems to occur at the greatest depth.

Manos

Manos and mano fragments were so common in the occupational debris that their association in features or with burials had little or no significance. With the exception of scraper planes they were the most frequent artifact group encountered. Their depth distribution (table 5) suggests several noteable points. The highest frequency occurs in the 6-to-12-inch level, being represented by some 349 examples. From 0-to-36-inches there are 960 specimens but from 36-to-54-inches there are only 2 examples. This would seem to indicate then that the early history of the Tank Site was characterized mainly by a flake-and-core industry with the mano-metate complex being exhibited only lightly at first and then gaining considerable importance toward the latter periods of Phase I. Excavations at LAn-2 would also indicate that the trait began to wane toward Phase II and was gradually replaced by a mortar-pestle complex, which continues to be characteristic on into historic times.

Manos have been typed largely on the basis of the number of faces that exhibit wear, the nature of the worked or worn surfaces, and the general form. Some eight types have been recognized.

Table 5

Mano Types

Occurrence by depth (in in.)
Types0-66-1212-1818-2424-3030-3636-4242-4848-54Total
IA282517101.........182
IB12261282............60
IC10131063............42
IIA315119942.........116
IIB541067631112.........280
IIC828968311031......285
IID131511422.........47
III924162...............51
Total239349229101339101962
Fragments not typable1,556
2,518

Figure 6. Mano Types

I. Unifaced

IA. Natural cobbles with wear on one surface. Cobbles range from symmetrical to irregular in shape: circular to ovoid in outline.

IB. Extended form of type IA, showing excessive wear. Forms all tend toward symmetry.

IC. Elongated “sugar-loaf” in cross section. Entire back surface completely smoothed.

II. Bifaced

IIA. Natural cobbles with wear on two surfaces. Symmetrical forms range from oblate spheroids to ovoid disks, others are symmetrical. In cross section wear surfaces are parallel to lenticular. Grades into type IIB.

IIB. Same as IIA, but forms are elongated (length always much greater than the breadth).

IIC. Wedge-shaped, ovoid to elongate cobbles. Angle between wear surfaces ranges from 5 degrees to 45 degrees.

IID. Same as type IIC, but one surface is keeled as a result of superimposed wear pattern.

III. Trifaced

III. Long, narrow, triangular cross section.

Mortars

Newly acquired mortars are represented but by three fragmentary pieces. Only one is of sufficient size to suggest an outer diameter of approximately 12 inches, and all three appear to be of the cobble type similar to the complete specimen collected in 1947 (Treganza and Malamud 1950, pl. 24, a). Considering the area excavated and the very small number of both mortars and pestles that were recovered, it would be safe to assume this complex was of little significance in the history of the Tank Site. Their function was probably concerned primarily with something other than the food economy, such as grinding pigments or functioning in some specific capacity. Wooden mortars and pestles can not be totally excluded, but the great preponderance of manos and metates would probably preclude any serious assumption that mortars and pestles ever played any important roll at the Tank Site.

Included in feature 18 was a spherical cobble 8 inches in diameter, marked by a well-defined, shallow, circular depression. Its surface bears the marks of shaping by pecking and some rubbing; the depression is well-smoothed, as if worn down by constant use. We can not say whether the piece is completed, as such; or whether, possibly, it represents a small mortar in an arrested state of manufacture.

Pestles

Five complete pestles were recovered, providing a total of nine for the two seasons. The specimens this year differ from those already known in being more stylized, i.e., four are almost perfectly cylindrical and show wear at both ends. All are made of sandstone and have gently rounded pounding surfaces. Specimens 1, 2, and 4, as listed below, were found in a single cache.

1. Shaped over-all by pecking, forming a slightly tapered cylinder, somewhat bulbed at either extremity. Both ends evidence use. This example, by far the largest recovered from the Tank Site, compares in many respects to pestles associated with later cultures of the coast and interior. Length, 31.5 cm.; average diameter, 6.9 cm. (pl. 24, a).

2. Entirely shaped by pecking and grinding. Two opposite sides somewhat flattened by abrasion as if used as a mano on a slab metate, and resulting in a somewhat flattened cylinder form. Both ends used. Length, 13.5 cm.; average diameter, 6.8 cm. (pl. 24, c).

3. Similar to specimen 2, though more nearly circular in cross section and surface shows no grinding. Length 16.5 cm.; average diameter, 7 cm.

4. Completely worked by pecking and grinding. Cylindrical form distorted by slight tapering and dorsoventral flattening. Used at both ends. Length, 15.2 cm.; average diameter, 6.5 cm.

5. This specimen is composed of a highly weathered sandstone so that the surface treatment is no longer discernable. Shaped to a truncated conoid and apparently used only on the larger end. Length, 18.5 cm.; greatest diameter, 8.5 cm.

These five specimens were localized in the southeast sector of the deposit, and none occurred deeper than the 12-to-18-inch level. Numerous Phase II projectile points came from this same general area of the site and therefore there is some inclination to assign these specimens to a late position in the Phase I with the probability that they are Phase II.

Abrading Stones

Two broad classes of abrading stones have been differentiated on the basis of form and inferred function (Treganza and Malamud 1950, p. 147):

I. Those that could be held in the hand and rubbed against some article being finished. These have smoothed, even-abrading surfaces that are gently concave to convex. They are clearly distinguishable from manos by their reduced average proportions, and the near consistent lack of pecking as a sharpening measure. That this latter characteristic does not hold without exception seems to be due simply to the fact that some of the abrading stones appear to be reused manos.
One of the examples in the above category, originally a broken bifaced mano, has small, half-inch deep depressions at either end. These evidently served as finger-holds, for they effect a good grip on the tool.

II. Those that, though quite varied in size, bear one or more grooves on their faces. The furrows vary in breadth and depth and appear to be a function, essentially, of the amount and kind of wear to which the artifact was subjected.
Many of these specimens, especially those with narrow, V-shaped longitudinal grooves, would be classed as awl sharpeners had they occurred in sites of later origin. However, bone awls or pointed, worked bone in any form is absent in the Tank Site. It would suggest, then, that this class of abrading stones were involved in conjunction with wood working, the tangible evidence having been lost to us.

Cog Stones

Cog stones, because of their unique forms and restricted distribution, may be useful as diagnostic elements for future comparative studies. As yet we know little about their function or cultural associations in the rest of southern California. Their temporal position appears to be a middle one, as none occur in positive association with late or historic sites, and conversely, none have been reported for Lake Mohave, coastal San Dieguito, or Oak Grove. The Tank Site specimens represent the earliest known occurrence, and even here their exact position as to Phase I or Phase II is not fully known. Most of our specimens occur in the top levels (0-18 inches), though a single example was found as deep as 32 inches (pl. 23, b).

We have suggested cog stones in southern California may constitute the counterpart of the spindle charm stones of central California with the south boundary of the Chumash marking the near southern limit of the spindle forms. Material out of which cog stones have been made is of some interest. The Tank Site specimens range through volcanic tuff, siliceous sinter, escoriated basalt, to a fine-grained basalt. From other areas the same materials are present plus sandstone, granite, and granodiorite. Steatite, one of the most easily worked stones, appears to be absent. Obviously the hardness and type of stone were of little importance. The appearance of the finished product likewise varied. Some specimens are a product of perfection, others of the roughest sort. Perforated specimens might suggest hafting, but few are of this type.

The suggestion of a ceremonial usage of cog stones is not solely lacking in evidence. In 1936-1937, under the Works Progress Administration, Mr. J. W. Winterbourne excavated two sites in Orange County known as the Banning Site and the Norris Site. The following are excerpts from a letter dated April 13, 1939, to Edwin F. Walker from J. W. Winterbourne (we are indebted to Mr. H. Eberhart for providing this data from his manuscript on cog stones):

“I am enclosing some data on cog stones that one of the clerks gathered from the field notes.... We have noticed several peculiarities regarding this cogged discoidal. First, that the Banning Estate Site seems to have produced as many of these stones as all the other sites where they are found combined; second, that the stones in most cases are found in the clay completely below the camp debris; third, that rarely have they been found in association with other artifacts except the discoidal; fourth, that they seem never to have served a utilitarian purpose as they are not pitted or polished and rarely broken; fifth, if broken, in almost every case the Indians attempted to mend them with asphalt; sixth, that the material used in their manufacture is with few exceptions a vesicular basalt which is found in outcrops in the San Joaquin Hills and at various points in the Santa Ana Mountains; seventh, that the number of cogs or depressions may vary three to twenty-five or thirty-eight, that the stone may be perforated near the center of the planes or it may not be, but that usually there is a depression near the center of both obverse and reverse planes.”

The following excerpts are from the same letter and contain more detailed information regarding archaeological occurrences: “A decomposed burial was uncovered four feet east of a cog stone and at the same depth.... Three fine specimens were found close together under four oblong slabs of fossilized limestone, a pectin shell and a blue piece of granite.... A cog stone was uncovered twenty-five inches below the surface, 19 inches northeast by north from a large metate, in plot #10-b. Upon further investigation, the metate proved to be resting on the stones of a fireplace from which a few broken human bones protruded. Twelve inches north of the fireplace ... a mano was found with the cog stone.”

The above excerpts were from the Banning Site. The following are from the Norris Site: “Three cog stones, #39, #40, #41, were found at a depth of 39 inches. These cog stones rested in the clay on edge. Flat surfaces parallel to each other. These cog stones were found close to a fireplace about two feet square and also close to a burial ... two cog stones were uncovered. These cog stones were one on top of the other and rested on the clay which underlies the kitchen midden. A cog stone was found in test hole #14 at a depth of 3½ feet, 8 inches below the bottom of the excavations in a pit. Abalone shell covered the top of the cog stone ... three cog stones one on top of the other.... This is the first fragment of a cog stone ever encountered in our excavation. We found a few with cogs or pieces broken from them but the Indians generally made an attempt to mend them. This would seem to indicate a ceremonial rather than a practical use.”

These instances serve to indicate such objects were held in high esteem at least for the two sites mentioned. None of the Tank Site specimens was patched nor did any two occur in the same immediate area; however, parallels exist in the forms, materials, the near association of metates, and at least two burial forms. Also, we recognize no utilitarian role in which these curious objects could have functioned.

Last season’s cog stones were all fragmentary. This year three complete specimens were found.

1. Beveled disk, biconically drilled. The specimen is indented at even intervals, resembling somewhat a perforated metal tapered gear or a fish vertebra. Height, 3.8 cm.; diameter at base, 8.8 cm. Material a fine-grained basalt (pl. 23, a).

2. Slightly beveled disk. The periphery is grooved at even intervals producing a cog effect. Both the flat surfaces are slightly pitted at the center of the disk. Height, 4.7 cm.; average diameter, 8.5 cm. Material a rough escoriated basalt (pl. 23, c).

3. Slightly beveled disk like the above specimen only more refined and with more grooves. Slightly pitted on both surfaces. Grooves appear to have first been made by a sawing technique and then later smoothed down. Height, 3 cm.; average diameter, 7.3 cm. Material is volcanic tuff (pl. 23, b).

Stone Disks

Discoids, like cogged stones, do not appear to have been utility items. That there may be some relationship between these two groups in a functional complex is attested by their direct association in the Banning Site as reported by Winterbourne. Eventually they may prove to be as important as cog stones in terms of cultural time-markers, though at present little is known concerning their distribution.

Stone disks have been divided into two gross categories: (I) those with flat to convex faces; (II) those on which one or both faces are concave. In either group the sides may be beveled or straight (for illustrations, cf. Treganza and Malamud 1950, pl. 24, c, d, f, i).

The three specimens recovered this season fall into the first group. All are characterized by flat faces and all are made of sandstone.

1. Sides beveled with the lower or larger face battered about the entire periphery. Height, 4 cm.; diameter, 6.5 cm. to 9 cm.

2. Fragmentary specimen with straight sides and slight central depression on one face. Height, 4.2 cm.; diameter, 7.7 cm.

3. Fragmentary specimen with vertical sides. Height, 3 cm.; diameter undetermined.

A barrel-shaped object of sandstone was recovered which, if it is a finished product, should not be classed here as a stone disk. However, there is some possibility that it represents a discoid in the initial stages of manufacture, and as such it is without parallel in the collection. Height, 6 cm.; diameter 5.9 cm. at ends; 6.8 cm. at middle.

There is no reason to assume that any of our specimens are in any way related to the so-called “bowling” stones reported for southern California in late prehistoric or historic times.

Rubbing Stones

This class includes small flat cobbles, showing abrasive wear on one or both faces. They may be distinguished from manos by their reduced size though many appear to look like “little” manos. None shows any shaping other than through continued wear from use.

A minority of these pieces, thirty-four, are distinguished by the development of a small centralized pit on one or both smoothed faces. In some instances there is a single pit on one surface and two on the other. Many of these pitted examples have been battered on their peripheral edges, suggesting they were either reused rubbing stones or they served a dual function of both smoothing and pecking. We are hesitant to call them “pitted hammerstones” since many are made from a soft sandstone and would be ill adapted to this function. It is of some interest to note that this general type of stone implement occurs in central and northern California throughout most of the entire cultural history of the more advanced industries. It has been suggested that such an artifact may have been used as an “acorn anvil” or in some way related to the preparation of the acorn in the hulling process. Should this prove to be correct, then one might expect it to be an ancient element in native California.

For future comparative work it may prove advantageous to make further subdivisions by differentiating between pitted and non-pitted forms. We have made no attempt to do so at the present time.

Core Hammerstones

Some investigators tend to place core hammerstones in a class with flaked tools, but in the present paper they are classed as an artifact of pecked stone. It is the great quantity of their occurrence which appears significant, rather than how they are classed.

Hammerstones may be conceived as having two quite distinct functions: (1) those whose function is primarily to remove a large flake through the percussion method, such as the production of a core itself or a rough blade, and (2) those hammerstones having sharp or semisharp projections used to reduce to some desired shape rocks of a nonconcoidal nature, such as pecking down the surface humps on a mortar or pestle in order to develop symmetry; or the function may not necessarily be one of shaping but merely to periodically rough up a grinding surface on a metate or mano. There naturally remains the possibility that once a specimen of the latter type had lost all of its sharp projections it could then assume the role of the first type and continue as a useful tool (Treganza and Valdivia, 1955, p. 20).

One problem of classification arises when we combine the process of manufacture and the concept of use. If we assume a rough piece of source material was purposely flaked down to produce a core to be used solely as a hammerstone, the artifact by definition becomes a flaked tool. However, at this point it bears no resemblance to a hammerstone, but looks more like a chopper or just a plain core and frequently may be classed as such. Once this core is used as a percussion instrument and has its sharp margins battered back, it begins to take on the characteristics of a hammerstone or a used core tool. If battering continues, the final result is an angular nodule whose irregular, worn margins mark the former presence of sharp bifacial flake edges. A well-worn core hammerstone is also a worn-out specimen, at least in the light of its original function.

Of the 1,478 specimens from the Tank Site it is our opinion that their resultant form is derived through means of their own function—that of pecking. That such an implement was much in demand is evidenced by the pecked surfaces of numerous grinding tools. We doubt seriously if hammerstones of this type were manufactured as such, but rather we assume any suitable core, rejected scraper plane, or chopper could have served as a starting point, and an over-all examination of our specimens supports such a thesis.

Emergent is the correlation of core hammerstones and the presence of manos and metates. Noteably both these grinding elements are rare in the coastal San Dieguito and in the Lake Mohave area but do occur among the Shoshonean and Yuman groups who occupied the areas corresponding to these ancient lithic cultures.

Cobble Hammerstones

Cobble hammerstones tend to be oval or egg-shaped and exhibit abrasion on one or both ends. None exceeds fist size, and many are slightly smaller. A number evidence additional use as a rubbing stone.

A varient of this form is slightly thinner and contains small bifacial depressions that have been pecked into the more flattened sides and presumably served as finger grips.

Slate Pendants

To date, worked slate was represented only by three nonperforated, lozenge-shaped specimens, one of which displays a faint, crude rectilinear design. The second season’s activity produced no comparable examples, though it added six pieces to the collection. These can be broken down into three descriptive categories:

1. Four examples, none over 2 mm. in thickness, too fragmentary to warrent reconstruction. Judging by the striations on their surfaces and edges, they were shaped by grinding. On each, one end tapers to a blunt point.

2. A lozenge-shaped specimen containing three broken-out peripheral biconical drilled holes. Average length, 6 cm.; average width, 4.5 cm.; 3 mm. thick.

3. A single trapezoidal specimen with no perforation or abrasive marks, but shaped at its narrow end by chipping. Length, 12 cm.; width, 6 cm.; 3 mm. thick.

Miscellaneous Artifacts

Here, as in the first report, are included objects that constitute part of the total cultural inventory, but as small or unassociated occurrences, they require individual descriptions.

Objects of Stone

1. A smooth, symmetric piece of fine-grained sandstone that, though incomplete, is recognizably spindle-shaped. In all probability it is a fragment of pseudomorphic belemnite cast, but appears to be analagous to the spindle-shaped charm stones of the Santa Barbara Hunting Culture or to those of central California or to the single specimen recovered at the Little Sycamore Site in Ventura County (Wallace, 1954, fig. 38B, p. 114; pl. 24 e).

2. Six clusters of quartz crystals, apparently segments of geodes, were recovered. Whether collected as a curiosity or whether they functioned as would a single large crystal for purposes of anamatistic power, as in central California, can only be conjectured. In 1947 a very small, terminated crystal was found in direct burial association, so there remains the possibility that at least single specimens had some ceremonial significance.

3. Spheroidal cobbles of varying sizes were encountered, especially in association with features. None appears to have been artificially shaped either by pecking or grinding, and hence we assume they represent highly selected specimens collected from the numerous conglomerate exposures found in Topanga Canyon. Circumstances surrounding their occurrence offer no clue as to their possible use.

4. Half of a biconically drilled chlorite-schist bead, 1.5 cm. long, and about 1 cm. in diameter. Both ends appear to be roughly serrated, but this feature may be accidental. That the bead was at one time worn on a string appears evident from the high luster at the juncture of the two conical drill holes.

5. A perforated tip of a fossil shark tooth, on which the enamel is largely lacking.

BONE IMPLEMENTS

It can be said with certainty that bone tools in any form were not characteristic of the Tank Site in either Phase I or Phase II.

From both season’s work were recovered a single fragment of a bone awl, a small section of polished bone containing a light drill pit, and the tip ends of six antlertine flakers. The antler specimens all occurred in the 0- to 12-inch level and probably should be assigned to Phase II since their distribution would coincide with the pressure-flaked projectile points.

This near-complete lack of bone artifacts is a pronounced contrast with later coastal and interior sites. In part it can be suggested that wooden objects were manufactured at the Tank Site as a substitute for bone.

OTHER REMAINS

Unworked Bone and Shell

The nonhuman bone recovered consisted primarily of highly fragmented cannon bones, none of which lent itself to positive identification. The total bulk of such refuse was surprisingly low. We can make no claim that mammal bone has disintegrated and disappeared in the course of time, for human bone, though by no means well preserved, was relatively abundant in small pieces (see features).

As has been pointed out, this scarcity of faunal remains lends support to the thesis that at least large game animals did not serve as significant staples. Smaller, lighter bones of rodents were even more rare, and even these could have been postoccupation, since burrowing mammals were present when we excavated. Only two pieces of bird bone were noted and both of these were under an inverted metate.

In the deeper part of the deposit (below 12 inches) identifiable shell remains were absent. Occasional small flecks of calcareous residue might suggest the former presence of highly altered shell remains, but as yet we lack a microscopic analysis to confirm this. In the extreme upper limits (0-6 inches) a few obvious shell fragments were collected, but even here such occurrences were rare.

Fossil Remains

Previously mentioned were a possible belemnite cast, which may have served as a charm stone, and a perforated shark’s tooth, probably used as a pendant. Last season we observed numerous remains of some unidentified fossil vertebrate and several marine shells.

Whether these remains indicate merely the former presence of an aboriginal fossil collector, or whether they played some functional role, will never be known to us. A large fossil fish vertebra is known to have constituted part of a Yokuts rainmaker shaman’s kit (records of the University of California Archaeological Survey), and fossil horse teeth occur with historic Wintu burials (Treganza, 1954), but the temporal separation between these two historic groups and the Topanga Culture is too great to offer any likely suggestions.

Pigments

Numerous mineral pigment sticks and granules indicate the considerable use of such items, but other than the occurrence of hematite in moderate to light form with some burials, little is known of possible additional uses. As for body paint or surface decoration on perishable material, the evidence of such use would not be preserved.

None of the pigment sticks was formed as a result of molding ground materials into a paddy or brick, as is sometimes noted for California, but rather, a good grade of mineral was originally selected, and, as pigment was desired, it was ground from this parent source. Gradually, either long angular or rounded forms resulted. Of these sticks of pigment 13 were hematite, showing a color range from brick red to brown; 33 were limonite, ranging from pale yellow to a rich orange yellow. Occasionally sticks of a pink mudstone occurred.