no. 12 archeology of taos valley — jeangon i7 



Minor Antiquities 

 stone artifacts 



Most of the stone artifacts were of the usual character, Manos 

 and metates were of several forms, the unusual depth of the latter 

 indicating a long period of use (pi. 6, b). Maul heads of the usual 

 type presented no new features (pi. 7, d). No axe heads were found. 

 Several small cylindrical stones of unknown use were found. While 

 they were not of any definite character, they showed plainly the marks 

 of having been used for some purpose, probably polishing (pi. y, b). 



Pot lids and other articles of micaceous schist were rather plentiful 

 (pi. 6). The writer has never before heard of the use of this material 

 for stone artifacts. Several larger slabs of it had evidently been used 

 as baking stones, as one surface was smoked and the other covered 

 with a heavy deposit of grease. 



Eccentric forms. — This group includes a troughlike stone which 

 was possibly used for smoothing arrow shafts (pi. 7, a). It measured 

 two inches long by one inch wide, the trough being 5/16 inch deep 

 and 11/16 inch wide at the top. It showed marks of rubbing in the 

 trough and on the top, bottom, and sides. 



Another was a triangular shaped stone, with indentation, which also 

 was probably an arrow or javelin shaft smoother (pi, 7, c). It was 

 found with a fine red pipe, a banded stone, and a fossil (Turwillana). 



Chipped implements. — Rather ordinary forms and workmanship 

 were presented in the chipped implements (pis. 8 and 9), the only 

 exception being the object shown in the upper left corner of plate 8, 

 an unusual knife blade of especially fine chalcedony. The cutting 

 edge is well chipped, and the top forms an excellent handle. 



The material used for chipped and crude cutting edges, arrow heads, 

 javelin heads, drill points, etc., included chalcedony, agatized wood, 

 slate, moss agate, obsidian, and a sort of hard shale. One especially 

 fine javelin head measured 2\ inches across the broadest part by 2,2 

 inches in length (pi. 8, lower left-hand figure). 



BONE ARTIFACTS 



Among the bone artifacts, also, only a few examples were out of 

 the ordinary. Elk or deer horn was represented by flakers and 

 chisels (pi, ID, b). Three pieces of rib bones (pi, 10, c) were inter- 

 esting; the longest of these is 11 inches, the shortest 2| inches in 

 length, although the latter was probably longer originally, as one end 

 of it is broken. All three of these specimens are notched, two with 



