20 



BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Fig. 22. — Stone ax from Spur Ranch. 



being roughened as for wrapping; a throw-dart head, consisting of 

 a blade of elegant outline of white opaque chert, 8| inches long and f 

 inch wide, mounted with sinew in a wooden foreshaft 3| inches long 

 (fig. 21) ; two knives or throw-dart heads of yellow jasper and 

 dark-brown chert, 3J and 3 inches long (fig. 21) ; an arrowhead 

 of Avhite chert If inches long; and an antler stone working tool 4 



inches long, dark-brown from age and 

 highly polished from use (fig. 21). 



AXES, HAMMEKS, AND MAULS. 



It is not usual to find a well fin- 

 ished specimen of the ax, and it is 

 evident that the only care on the part 

 of the workers was to make an effec- 

 tive tool. It is also curious that so 

 few axes are found, and this is all 

 the more remarkable in areas that 

 have evidently been inhabited for 

 a long time by apparently a large 

 population. The type has invariably 

 a single groove, usually running clear 

 around the specimen. The material 



is almost always a bluish volcanic rock or basalt which is well suited 



for the purpose. 



An unusual form of greenish stone implement worked to wedge- 

 shape suggests an ungrooved ax. (Fig. 22 and section.) The poll 



of the specimen has not been carefully worked. It may be an un- 

 finished ax, or may have been made for some special purpose. (Cat. 



No. 231858, U.S.N.M. ; length, 6^ inches; width, 3 inches; thickness, 



If inches; Spur Ranch, Luna, New 



Mexico.) 



A hammer-maul consisting of a 



bowlder of gray stone, having 



grooves cut on the opposite sides, 



is shown (fig. 23), with outline. 



Originally this implement was 



probably hafted and used as a 



maul. (Cat. No. 231833, U.S.N.M. ; 



diameter, 4f inches; thickness, 3-j inches; Spur Ranch, Luna, New 



Mexico.) 



Another specimen from the same locality (pi. 4, fig. 10) is grooved 



deeply almost around the circumference. (Cat. No. 231960, U.S. 



N.M.; diameter, 3J inches; length, 6 inches.) 



A block of bluish chalcedony much chipped (pi. 4, fig. 9) resembles 



the hammers from the Petrified Forest region, northern Arizona. 



The specimen shows little use as a hammer. (Cat. No. 232066, U.S» 



Pig. 23. 



Stone grooved maul from Spur 

 Ranch. 



