ANCIENT PUEBLOS OF UPPER GILA EEGION. 13 



the least effort to produce a given result, and discover to our sur- 

 prise that the work in fine stone, shell, and bone of the same people 

 evidences a high degree of skill and taste. 



It might be well to inquire whether artistic works in the more 

 enduring materials were not the outcome of tribal well-being as 

 regards the food supply and the resulting leisure to perform these 

 works. Unquestionably there are seasonal occupations pursued when 

 the land and rivers are yielding sustenance and the temperature has 

 reached its zonal limit, which must affect man as it affects plants and 

 animals, and at this favorable time, to take the Pueblos as examples, 

 we find pottery making, weaving, wood carving, and such arts going 

 on, or the artistic feeling may be expressed through the drama of 

 ceremonies. Enforced leisure also is a powerful stimulus ; for exam- 

 ple, the western Eskimo utilize their long night not only in the prac- 

 tical work of repairing and making additions to the hunting equip- 

 ment for the next season, but in carving and decorating ivory, wood, 

 or horn objects which may be of economic value or merely expressive 

 of a sentiment for art. It may be conceded on the whole that the 

 comparative degree of advancement or efflorescence of art is due 

 largely to the material well-being of social units. 



DOMESTIC UTENSILS OF STONE. 



The most common domestic utensils of stone are metates and 

 manos. The type universal through the Pueblo region is common 

 here. The metate is made commonly of coarse volcanic rock, and 

 there is apparently not the same discrimination as to the grades of 

 fineness of stone as is observed in the northern portion of the Pueblo 

 region. Metates with feet, after the Mexican type, do not belong to 

 this region, the few specimens found in the Gila Valley probably 

 being recent introductions from the country to the south. 



The mano, which is always made nearly as wide as the metate, has 

 a tendency to take the same shape on wearing as those of the present 

 or ancient Hopi, for instance. Ordinarily, however, the mano was 

 a thick oblong stone with the corners rounded off and with grooved 

 sides. (PI. 3, figs. 2, 6, 8.) It was apparently ground perfectly flat 

 upon the metate and not raised during the stroke, a habit among the 

 present Pueblos which reduces the mano to a form wedgelike in 

 section, and thus often the worn-out specimen is a thin flat tablet. 



The metate has a tendency to become channeled, the wear of the 

 hand-stone leaving raised sides, but these sides never have the height 

 of those observed in the metates from Chaves Pass which project 

 above the grinding surface nearly a foot, showing that very large 

 blocks of rock formed the original implement. The metate was 

 mounted in a sloping position upon a foundation of stones embedded 



