NO. 4 SAN JON DISTRICT, NEW MEXICO ROBERTS 2^ 



in the sequence for the valley plain. On the basis of the evidence 

 from Pueblo type potsherds, previously mentioned, Judson concluded 

 that the earliest possible date for the third alluviation was in the 

 late 1400's. Hence at most the specimens could only just antedate 

 the early historic period, and it is more likely that they actually 

 belong in that stage. 



Neither in the type of the implements nor in the material from 

 which they were made, a gray chert, is there any suggestion of rela- 

 tionship to the artifacts excavated in and around the basin at the 

 main site. The absence of projectile points adds to the difficulty 

 of attempting to correlate the material with any definite group or 

 cultural horizon. The writer has seen blades and scrapers of this 

 type, made from similar stone, that came from Lipscomb County, 

 Tex., and adjacent Ellis County, Okla. Similar blades and scrapers 

 are also found in southern Kansas, north of this Texas-Oklahoma 

 district in what has been called the Province of Quivira (Brower, 

 1898, 1899), in fact large blades of this type have been called the 

 Quivira Blade. Throughout this general area are large deposits of 

 gray chert where much material was quarried by the Indians and 

 the present specimens may have come from there. That is old Wichita 

 country and on the basis of a fifteenth-century date it is possible 

 that the implements may indicate the presence of hunting parties 

 from that tribe in this New Mexican area. In his listing of typical 

 Wichita artifacts, however, Sayles (1935) does not include such 

 blades and scrapers; hence they may have belonged to some other 

 group. Such caches are not uncommon in areas farther east and 

 north but, as far as evidence in the literature is concerned, seem to 

 be rare in this district. A similar series of blades is reported to have 

 been found about 10 miles (16.1 km.) south of the present location. 

 They were not seen by any of the field party and the occurrence 

 has not been verified. That these blades were actual implements and 

 not blanks intended for further refinement into more specific tools 

 is demonstrated by the secondary chipping along some of the edges 

 and a certain amount of polish, in some areas on their surfaces, 

 such as is acquired through use. Implements of this type were 

 employed in the preparation and dressing of skins, particularly those 

 from the buffalo. The snub-nosed and side scrapers in the series 

 are of the types usually found in a hunting complex, although as a 

 group the sizes are larger than similar tools from the basin and buried 

 sites in the plain. 



