It is interesting to note that during the years of Mr. Lewis’s observations he found that the mortars with straight sides and flat bottoms occurred near Sonoma Mountain, where boulders of basalt are common. But in the sandy hills west of Petaluma pointed or urn-shaped mortars, such as are shown on the top shelf of Fig. 511, are found in some numbers. It is clear, he states, that the various types of mortars were confined to certain regions. He knew of only two mortars found in Indian graves. In one instance, where a mortar was buried with an Indian, the skull was pierced by a flint point. Near Santa Rosa, twenty miles from his home, a large spring was cleaned out, and in it were found numerous objects of stone. Mr. Lewis states that he never found a mortar and pestle placed together. They were usually found separate. While the plummets and so-called sinkers are found scattered throughout this region, yet nine tenths of his collection came from the lagoon previously mentioned. Not only has he found mortars upon the surface, but specimens have been dug up from a depth of twelve feet in the ground. The cavities may be large or small, independent of size of mortar. Of his entire collection of two hundred and fifty mortars he states that seventy-five had holes in the bottom, seventy-five were more or less broken, fifty were considered fair specimens, and about fifty were perfect. The late Mr. Horatio N. Rust, an observer of much experience in California archæology, described an interesting cache of stone bowls some years ago.[[18]] I quote his article:—
“Mr. H. W. Hunt, of San Fernando, California, has been tilling for several years the site of an old Indian village, and in doing so has unearthed fragments of not fewer than thirty Indian bowls, but no whole specimen. A short time ago, while ploughing, he encountered a stone, and in digging it out discovered a cache of twenty-one sandstone bowls (see Fig. 510) carefully packed together in a space not exceeding four or five feet. On Mr. Hunt’s invitation I personally examined the contents of this interesting cache, finding the bowls quite symmetrical and all except one in perfect condition.
“These utensils measure about ten inches in greatest diameter, and from seven to ten inches across the bottom; they are about one and one fourth inches in thickness at the rim. A shallow groove is cut in the edge of the rim of each vessel, in which shell beads are set in asphaltum. About midway in the inside of one of the bowls a series of holes, about one fourth of an inch in depth and diameter, is cut, and in each of these holes a shell bead is set in asphaltum. These inset beads represent the only attempt at ornamentation.
“After carefully examining the field in which these vessels were found I reached the conclusion that the thirty broken bowls indicated the former occupancy of the site by a village of considerable size, and that they had been broken by an enemy rather than through use. I was led also to the belief that the villagers had been killed and many of their vessels destroyed, but that the predatory enemy had failed to find the cache of bowls, which had been secreted by their owners in fear of such an attack.
“This conclusion was reached in view of the experience gained from the examination of many village-sites in California. On one occasion, at a site south of San Jacinto Mountain, I discovered twenty-five stone mortars, within the radius of a mile, all of which had been broken by violence, evidently by an enemy for the purpose of depriving the villagers of an important means of preparing food. Beside these mortars, I found a slab of green talc, about eight by fifteen inches, and three slabs of sandstone of about the same width and length and one and one fourth inches in thickness. Fragments of similar sandstone slabs have been found near the same site, but no pestles or other artifacts that had not been broken, a circumstance that would seem to indicate that everything had been either stolen or deliberately destroyed.”
Fig. 516. (S. 1–5.) From the collection of James A. Barr, Stockton, California.
Fig. 517. (S. about 1–6.) Found at Riverside, Rhode Island. Material: greenish black slate. Collection of S. R. Turner, Riverside, Rhode Island.
On the top shelf of Mr. Lewis’s exhibit in Fig. 511 are pointed mortars such as I have placed under classification “C.” Usually these are of volcanic rock, worked down light and rather thin. They were pointed in order that they might be thrust into soft earth, or swampy places where certain reeds and roots abounded, they being held in position by the nature of the soil, while the women ground grain.