Fig. 12. Stone ax with handle.
Similar specimens are attached by the Hopi to their most sacred palladium, called the tiponi, or badge of office of the chief of a priesthood. The tiponi of the Antelope society has one of these projecting from its top. The meaning of this association may be even greater than at first would be suspected, for according to legends the Snake family, which is the guardian of the fetishes used in the snake ceremonies, originally lived at Tokonabi, near Navaho mountain, at the mouth of the San Juan river. The culture of the ancient inhabitants of the ruins at that place was not very different from that of the people of the Mesa Verde.
Grinding Stones
Both pestles and hand stones used in grinding maize were excavated, the latter in considerable numbers. There were found also many stone slabs having rounded depressions, or pits, on opposite sides, evidently similar to those now used by the Hopi in grinding the paints for their ceremonials. In some places peckings or grooves in the surfaces of the rocks show where these grinding stones were used, and perhaps flattened to the desired plane. These grinding places are found in the plazas, on the sides of the cave back of the village, and elsewhere. A number of these grooves in a lower ledge of rock at the spring indicate that this was a favorite spot for shaping the hand grinders, possibly for grinding corn or other seeds.
The hand stones are of several types: (1) Polygonal, having corners somewhat worn, but flat on both sides, and having grooves on opposite edges to insure a firm hold for the hand; (2) convex on one face and flat on the opposite; (3) having two faces on each side, separated by a sharp ridge. The third type represents apparently the last stage in the life of a grinding stone the surfaces of which have been worn to this shape by constant use.
Several flat stones, each having a slight depression on one side, were found to be covered with pigments of various colors, which were ground on their surfaces by means of conical stones, as shown in figure 13. Two rectangular flat stones ([pl. 21], i, j) with finely polished surfaces and rounded edges have a notch on the rim. Their use is unknown. Nordenskiöld refers to similar stones as “moccasin lasts,” but there seems no valid reason thus to identify these objects except that they have the general form—although larger—of the sole of the foot. The Spruce-tree House aborigines wore sandals and had no need for lasts. Moreover, so far as known, the Pueblo Indians never made use of an object of this kind in fashioning their moccasins.
Pounding Stones
Fig. 13. Stone pigment-grinder.