20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS V'OL. 63 



rectangular forms. The most remarkable feature in these is the 

 presence of a handle on one side, which occasionally is duplicated, 

 and in one instance four knobs or legs project from the periphery. 

 These projections appear to characterize the mortars of the Mimbres, 

 although they are not confined to them, as the form occurs in other 

 regions of New Mexico and in California. One of the most instruct- 

 ive of these small spherical paint mortars, now owned by Mr. E. D. 

 Osborn, has ridges cut in high relief on the outside. 



Metates and manos, some broken, others whole, are numerous and 

 can be picked up on almost every prehistoric site. While some of 

 these metates are deeply worn, showing long usage, others have 

 margins but slightly raised above the surface. The majority of 

 metates found on the sites of habitations have no legs, but a typical 

 Mexican metate with three knobs in the form of legs was presented 

 to the National Museum by the Rev. E. S. Morgan, of Deming. 

 Metates are sometimes found in graves with skeletons, presumably 

 those of women. Several ancient metates are now in use as house- 

 hold implements in Mexican dwellings. 



If the size of the population were to be gauged by the number of 

 mortars and manos found, certainly the abundance of these imple- 

 ments would show that many people once inhabited the plain through 

 which flows the Mimbres River. Narrow, flat stone slabs have an 

 incised margin on one end. Their use is problematical. The fre- 

 quency of stone balls suggests games, but these may have been used as 

 weapons ; or again, they were possibly used in foot races, as by the 

 Hopi of to-day. 



COPPER OBJECTS 



Native metallic copper was formerly abundant at the Santa Rita 

 mines, and there is every probability that the material out of which 

 some of the aboriginal copper bells were made was found here, and 

 that these mines were the source of float copper found in Arizona 

 ruins. Although no copper implements were found by the author in 

 the Mimbres ruins, he has been told that objects of copper apparently 

 made by the aborigines have been found in some of the graves.* 



^ Elaborate metal objects of early historical times have been found at various 

 places in the Mimbres. The best of these is a fragment of an elaborately 

 decorated stirrup, now owned by Mr. Pryor of the Nan Ranch. A copper 

 church bell was found near his house, and other metal objects belonging to the 

 historic epoch are reported from various ruins in the valley. 



