A. Sides hollowed out, edge convex; 2 to 6 inches diameter, seven-eighths to 2¾ thick.
1. Edges of concavity sharp.
a. Cavity a regular curve from side to side. The type ([figure 95]) is of quartz, from Cherokee county, Georgia. There are also, from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, one of sandstone, of which one side has been worked out by a flint, the little pits being distinctly visible, while the other side has natural surface; from Loudon county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, 6 inches diameter, which has been used as a mortar, the cavities being roughened, with their edges broken and scarred (the edge of the stone is battered entirely around midway between the sides as though used for a hammer); from McMinn county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, about the same size as last, with a slight pit in the center of each cavity, the edges of the concavity being considerably chipped, and the edge of the implement very smooth; from Polk county, Tennessee, one of quartzite, 3½ inches in diameter, with the edge polished except in one spot, where it shows marks of use as a hammer or pestle—it has been used also as a mortar, the edges of the concavity being much chipped and broken; one each from Craighead county, Arkansas, of novaculite; Randolph county, Illinois, of granite; Cherokee county, Georgia, of quartz; and Obion county, Tennessee, of sandstone. In the four last mentioned the entire surface is quite smooth or even highly polished.
Fig. 96.—Discoidal stone, with perforation.
b. With a small perforation at the center. The type is shown in [figures 96] (of sandstone, from a grave in Union county, Illinois), and [97] (of granite, from Virginia). There is another specimen, of sandstone, from Red River county, Texas.
Fig. 97.—Discoidal stone, with perforation.
c. With a secondary depression in each cavity. [Figure 98] (yellow quartz, highly polished, from Fulton county, Georgia) is typical. There is also one of quartzite, with a secondary depression in one side only, from Roane county, Tennessee, which may be supposed, from this and other imperfections, to be unfinished.
2. Edges of concavity rubbed off blunt. These are grouped simply by form, as the specimens from Kanawha valley, West Virginia, and northeastern Kentucky are nearly all roughly finished, quite different from the smooth or polished ones from farther south. Some are worked out into the form of a ring, and there is every stage between that form and the flat disk whose sides show no trace of pecking. [Figure 99] (quartzite, from Sevier county, Tennessee) illustrates a typical example, roughly worked but entirely perforated, and [figure 97] shows the same type in another form.