ANCHOR STONES. 685 



elsewhere iu the Mississippi Valley, having on one side, and sometimes 

 on both, shallow, basin-like depressions artificially scooped out. Stones 

 of this character are found of various dimensions and different kinds, and 

 are commonly known as " mortars," the general belief being that they 

 were used iu some inexplicable way for s"rinding grain with the aid of pes- 

 tles, somewhat as the metate is still employeil by the Pueblos and Mex- 

 icans. Fig. 2 (Plate I,) represents a typical specimen of the objects 

 mentioned, now in my collection. It was found near the bank of the 

 Illinois River in excavating a cellar in the city of Beardstown, in this 

 county, on the site of an ancient Indian camping ground. It is a smooth, 

 water-worn bowlder of hard greenstone (diorite), with both sides hol- 

 lowed out dish-like to the depth of almost an inch at the center below 

 the edges. It weighs a fraction over 15 pounds, is 9i inches iu length, 

 7 inches wide, and 3^ iu thickness at the circumference; with rounded 

 borders smooth, excepting at both ends, and on one side for a space the 

 stone is roughened and battered as though it had been used as a maul 

 for breaking other stones, or as an anvil upon which hard substances 

 had been hammered. Fig. 3 (Plate II) is another so-called mortar of 

 the class most frequently found, from one of the counties in the south- 

 ern ijart of this State (Illinois) ; a rough block of granite weighing 16 

 l)ouuds, with smoothly-worn dei>ressious on both sides. The excava- 

 tions in all the objects of this class, including Fig. 1, are so insignificant, 

 so shallow and broad, as to preclude their supposed use as mortars. 

 " Dished " stones of this character are comparatively common in south- 

 ern Illinois and farther east on both sides of the Ohio River. And in 

 tbe same territory stone uiullers, of which Fig. 4 (Plate II) is the ordi- 

 nary type, are also frequently met with. The correlation of the two im- 

 plements is a natural inference at first sight, but the experiments I have 

 tried with those in my collection satisfied me that the two implements 

 were not used together. I could find none of the pestles to fit the mor- 

 tars. The pestles have broad, flat bases not adapted to concavities, 

 and must have been used, if used as pestles at all, on plane surfaces, as 

 our painters of a generation ago employed similar stone mullers for 

 grinding their jiaints on broad, flat slabs of marble. The "dished" 

 stones, in my opinion, are simply the rubbing-stones, or whetstones 

 upon which, with the aid of sand and water, the diorite axes and celts 

 received their cutting edges. 



The anchor stone I was describing when led into this digression was 

 found in a small sand mound, 15 feet in diameter and 2 feet high, a 

 short distance from the Illinois River, in the suburbs of the city of 

 Beardstown. The mound covered the much-decayed skeleton of a 

 large, middle-aged individual, who had been laid on the surface of the 

 ground, on his back, at full length, with feet to the west and arms ex- 

 tended down his sides. The back of the skull rested in the concavity 

 of the stone, which had been i)laced as a pillow under the occiput of 

 the corpse. Under each shoulder and under each elbow, each hip and 

 each heel of the skeleton, was found a common, smooth, water worn 



