lO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



servance of some ceremony, or they may be analogous to the long- 

 prayer pahos of the Pueblos. Certain features about the cave in which 

 they were found suggested that it might have been one of the sacred 

 places of the people rather than a mere dwelling site. The great 

 numbers of spear shafts scattered through the debris give at least 

 some grounds for such a supposition. 



Closely associated with the twisted fiber on the shafts, in a number 

 of cases, was a small bundle of three or more sticks which had been 

 carefully smoothed, sharpened at one end, and rounded off at the 

 other (fig. 7). They were bound together by strips of sinew and 

 then fastened to the shaft with some of the twisted fiber. They were 

 so placed that their rounded ends projected several inches beyond the 

 butt of the shaft. What their purpose may have been or what signifi- 

 cance may be attached to them is not known at the present time. 

 Kidder and Guernsey found similar bundles of small sticks in their 



Fig. 7. — Method of attaching bundle of small sticks to end of spear shaft. 



Basket Maker caves which they identified as material for the making 

 of hair ornaments.^ They did not find any attached to spear shafts. 



A dull red pigment was applied to the spear shafts in some cases, 

 and this is especially noticeable where they have been protected by 

 fiber wrappings. The shafts as a group are very much like those 

 found with the remains of the Basket Maker cultures in the region 

 farther west and north. Their chief difirerence is in the agave fiber 

 embellishments. 



Foreshafts for the spears were made from sticks of harder material. 

 They were tapered at one end to fit the socket in the shaft, while the 

 other end was notched for the insertion of a stone point. The latter 

 was held in position by the use of pitch and a wrapping of sinew. 

 Without the heads the foreshafts range from 6? to 7 inches in length. 

 The stone points, from i to 2 inches in length, are of the elongated 

 triangular shape with good barbs and a tang. The majority of them 

 were made from a gray chert. 



* Guernsey, S. J., and Kidder, A. V., Basket-Maker Caves of Northeastern 

 Arizona. Papers of the Peabody [Museum, \'ol. \'III. No. 2, Cambridge, 1921, 

 p. 52, pi. 18, c. 



