Flakers.—Two compound flakers, made by securing pieces of ground bone to short wooden shafts, were found in the collection. In one specimen (139556) the entire flaker measures 12 cm., and the projecting bone 3.4 cm. ([pl. 14], b). The other specimen (139557) is 13.1 cm. long, with a bone piece 5.6 cm. long ([pl. 14], c). In both specimens the ground pieces of bone were laid in grooves in the round wooden shafts, and secured to them with 2-ply Z-twist cordage (see “[Haftings]” for details). Both of the wood shafts are incised with lines encircling the handle area. These lines may have been decorative, or they may have been intended to supply friction to the grasp.
Flakers of bone have been reported for the northern part of Baja California (Sales, 1794, I:49) and must have been known to all peoples on the peninsula despite the absence of direct evidence in the archaeology and most of the historical sources. They were known throughout adjacent regions, although usually in the form of simple antler tines. Specimens identical to those from Bahía de Los Angeles, except for the use of sinew lashing in place of the cordage, have been reported from Basketmaker caves in Arizona (Guernsey and Kidder, 1921, p. 96; fig. 15c).
Cane whistles.—Two cane, or carrizo, whistles were found in the cave. They are identical in form and mode of construction, but they differ in decorative details. In both the whistle hole is cut into the cane at a node, and is reinforced with a black adhesive, possibly asphaltum.
Around the whistle hole of the longer of the two specimens (139588a; [pl. 15], h) are five pits which have been burned in; two are at one end of the hole, three at the other. As added decoration a series of incisions encircles the shaft of the whistle, some of which, at the mouth end, are joined by pairs of cut lines. All of these incisions are blackened, either by carbon or through handling.
The shorter whistle (139588b; [pl. 15], g) has no burned pits at the hole, but the encircling incisions, minus the connecting lines, are present. At the end of the whistle opposite the mouth is the remnant of a hole in which there is a fragment of knotted cordage.
No other whistles have been recorded for the archaeology of the peninsula. Spanish documentary sources are unrefined in the differentiation of flutes and whistles; either or both were known to the historic tribes of Baja California. Use was restricted to ceremonial occasions in all recorded instances.
Directly to the north of Bahía de Los Angeles, in the 18th century, shamans used whistles in ceremonies performed several days after a death (Sales, 1794, I:79), just as the modern Kiliwa use a reed flute at the ñiwey ceremony (Meigs, 1939, p. 45). In neighboring southern California, the use of flutes was nearly universal, while whistles were used infrequently (Drucker, 1937, p. 25).
Bull-roarer (?).—One highly polished wooden artifact (139565) may have been used as a bull-roarer. This artifact, with a length of 23.5 cm., a diameter of 5.1 cm., and a thickness of 6 mm. ([pl. 15], i), is made of a very hard dark wood—probably ironwood, Olneva tesota. It is concave on both faces. At each end, and at a right angle to the main axis of the specimen, is a groove filled with a hardened black substance inlaid with fragments of Olivella shell (O. biplicata). The hole at one end is biconically drilled. This artifact has been tentatively called a “bull-roarer” because no other purpose can be conjectured. It is too large for a net-gauge, which it somewhat resembles because of its concave ends.
There is no mention of bull-roarers in the Spanish sources for the peninsula; however, one archaeological specimen has been recovered from the surface of a cave in the San Julio Basin, to the east of Comondú. This wooden bull-roarer has a conventional shape; it is a long oval-shaped piece of hardwood which is double-convex or lenticular in cross section and has a length of 21.5 cm.[2]
The use of bull-roarers for ceremonial purposes was nearly universal in southern California (Drucker, 1937, p. 25). They have also been reported for the Kiliwa of northern Baja California, where they were used by shamans in the ñiwey ceremony, and for placating ghosts by anyone in an emergency (Meigs, 1939, p. 45).