de Laguna] ARCHEOLOGY, YAKUTAT BAY AREA, ALASKA 115 



and the Aleutians (probably also on Kodiak), although they were 

 not identified at Chugach sites (Hrdh6ka, 1944, pp. 328, 341; Heizer 

 1956, pp. 53 f.; de Laguna, 1956, pp. 124 f., 267, Townsend and 

 Townsend, 1961, pi. 3, 1-7). Grinding slabs are not common among 

 Eskimo outside of Alaska. Drucker (1950, Trait 949, p. 269) reports 

 mortarlike "paint grinding pans of stone" from the central and north- 

 ern Northwest Coast tribes (among whom the Tlingit should be 

 included), but these were evidently used without handstones. Aside 

 from these specimens, large grinding slabs are rare or absent on the 

 Northwest Coast, and we have to go to northern California before the 

 metate and mano become chai'acteristic tools. The grinding slabs 

 at Old Town suggest, therefore, affihations with the Aleut and Pacific 

 Eskimo, rather than with the Northwest Coast, and such ties would 

 be closer if any of the hammerstone-abraders or abraded cobblestones 

 had been used as manos with the grinding slabs. 



WHETSTONES 



Whetstones of three distinguishable shapes were found: bar-shaped, 

 brick-shaped, and double-concave, as well as miscellaneous and frag- 

 mentary specimens. They total 28, and, with one exception, are of 

 abrasive materials, ranging from fine siltstone to sandstone. 



The seven bar whetstones (pi. 10, c, e) are from 8.7 to 14.8 cm. 

 long, 1.4 to 4.3 cm. wdde, and 1.1 to 1.8 cm. thick. Most are carefully 

 made. All come from the older parts of the site: four from Old 

 Town II (including a specimen of hard, fine-grained metamorphic 

 rock), and three from Old Town I. 



There are five brick-shaped whetstones. Except for one of shale 

 from Canoe Pass, the rest are of sandstone, coarser in grain than that 

 used for the bar whetstones and less suited than the latter for delicate 

 grinding and polishing. They range in length from 8.4 to (14.3) cm., 

 in width from 4.7 to 7.4 cm., and in thickness from 2.3 to 3.2 cm. 

 One comes from Old Town III, two each from Old Town II and I. 



There are also four broken sandstone whetstones, with both surfaces 

 ground concave. When complete, they may have been oval or 

 circular, and up to 20 cm. in diameter. Perhaps they should be classed 

 ^vith the grinding slabs. Proveniences are: one from Old Town III, 

 two from Old Town II, and one from Old Town II or III. 



Lastly, there are 3 cobblestones with marks of abrasion (whetstones 

 or manos?) and 14 whetstones, chiefly broken slabs of sandstone or 

 siltstone, too irregular or varied in shape to be classified (pi. 10, d, h). 

 Proveniences are: 1 from Nessudat, 1 from Diyaguna'Et, 9 from Old 

 Town III, 2 from Old Town II, 2 from Old Town I, and 1 from Old 

 Town II or III. 



Whetstones of the same types have been found at Kodiak, Kachemak 



