60 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL IVIUSiEUM 



Somewhat dissimilar is c, which is made of soft white chalky lime- 

 stone. Mammiform in shape, it too has a flat lip but instead of a 

 protuberant stem has a rounded conical apex. The cavity is larger 

 and deeper (22 mm.) ; the walls average 4-6 mm. in thickness. The 

 interior surface is somewhat uneven, but the exterior is well finished. 

 Height is about 30 mm. ; diameter, as computed from the radius, was 

 approximately 62 mm., and the shape appears to have been slightly 

 elliptical. As is also true of a and h, no satisfactory explanation has 

 come to mind for the use of this object. It has been suggested that 

 some or all were weaning nipples, paint or medicine mortars, or "eye 

 cups," but there is not the slightest evidence for any of these uses. 



In plate 11, j, is shown a small paint mortar fashioned from soft 

 white limestone. One surface of a roundish pebble about 50 mm. in 

 diameter has been flattened slightly to hold the piece upright. The 

 upper surface has a depression 35 mm. across by 7 mm. deep. Pos- 

 sibly as a result of deterioration in the ground, the material at present 

 seems entirely too soft to have been suitable for grinding purposes. 

 The specimen may have been used originally for mixing small quan- 

 tities of pigment or other materials rather than as an ordinary mortar. 



Pieces of sandstone with grooved or worn surfaces were moderately 

 plentiful. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, none appeared to be 

 from long boat-shaped paired buffers of the type common in many 

 Plains archeological sites. The fragments found were irregularly 

 shaped blocks, which gave not the slightest evidence of representing 

 intentionally formed implements. They varied in thickness up to 3 

 or 4 cm. and in greatest diameter from 28 to 90 mm. Sometimes the 

 entire surface is worn flat; at other times, broad shallow grooves or 

 short, deep, narrow ones crossed or crisscrossed one or more faces (pi. 

 19, f-g)- The latter may have been a result of awl sharpening, and 

 perhaps the broader markings were left in rubbing down arrowshafts 

 or other larger pieces. In view of the evident abundance of arrow- 

 points, it seems a little strange that no specialized implements for 

 dressing the shafts were present, particularly in view of their abun- 

 dance in other nearby sites of distinct cultural affiliations. 



Unworked or slightly worked stone objects include principally the 

 various hammer and pecking stones, and one or two mullerlikc pieces. 

 The former are little more than stream-worn qnartzite boulders and 

 pebbles of a size convenient for grasping in the hand. They are of 

 circular or subrect angular outline, with battered ends or sides. None 

 exceeds 118 by 76 by 59 mm., and some are much smaller. Presumably, 

 they were used for all sorts of heavy pounding; for shattering chert 

 boulders, roughing out specimens to be ground down, etc. 



Besides sandstone the prehistoric inhabitants of the Renner site 

 possessed one other material suitable for abrading purposes — pumice. 



