22 



BULLETIN 87, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



blades are hafted, perhaps for the foreshafts of the short dart hurled 

 with the throwing stick. Large chipped blades are almost never 

 found in this region, though they occur in the Little Colorado Valley 

 and are at the present time used by the Zuili as cult objects. 



Flakes of chert and quartzite which appear to be simple scraping 

 tools were found occasionally in the ruins, and in some number in 

 Tularosa Cave, where they are associated with 

 pieces of branches which had been cut by re- 

 peated scraping. (See Wood.) There are also 

 oval spalls, nearly uniform in shape and size, oc- 

 curring in all sites and in such numbers as to be 

 regarded as an accredited implement. Usually 

 they show wear, and in some cases have been 

 ground to an edge. There is proof that this 

 Fig. 28.— Stone] SCRAPER implement was used for wood working. (See 



FROM Tularosa Cave. ^h. \ t, -i • j_ x i _c j.i 



p. 61.) It also was a convenient tool lor other 

 purposes, such as fleshing, bark peeling, graining leather, etc. The 

 scraper blade of oval cuboid shape is not found in archeological sites 

 here or in any other part of the Pueblo region. Flakes of obsidian 

 appear to have been used in dressing bows, arrow foreshafts, etc., as 

 glass is used by the cabinetmaker. 



In this region of altered, igneous, and eruptive rocks there are 

 innumerable spalls of all shapes and sizes at hand for selection. That 

 they were so selected is seen from the spalls found in Tularosa Cave. 

 Plate 4, figure 1, shows a spall of gray basalt 

 having an excellent cutting edge; figure 3, a 

 spall of black basalt, the edge of which has been 

 improved by chipping; figure 4, a plate of red 

 chert chipped carefully; figure 5, a much-used 

 spall worn on the edge; and figure 2, a square 

 plate of basalt chipped on two sides (5^ inches 

 square) . 



A more finished scraper, or cutting implement fig. 29.— stone scraper 

 consists of a spall of blue-gray basalt, the edge ^^^^ ^pur ranch. 

 of which is chipped (fig. 28). (Cat. No. 246462, U.S.N.M.; length, 

 2| inches; width. If inches; Tularosa Cave, New Mexico. 



Another example of hard purple rock, chipped on a portion of the 

 edge (fig. 29) comes from the Spur Ranch, Luna, New Mexico. 

 (Cat. No. 231815, U.S.N.M.; length, 2^ inches; width, If inches.) 



SAWS. 



A great number of saws which consist of flaked or thin plates of 

 volcanic rock, worked straight along one edge, which may be toothed 



