66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 51 



POUNDING STONES 



Anyone who will examine the amount of stone-cutting necessary 

 to lower the floor of kiva V, for instance, to its present depth, or to 

 peck away the projecting rock in some of the other kivas, will 

 realize at once that the Cliff Palace people were industrious stone 

 workers. A number of the pounding stones (pi. 22, a) with which 

 this work was done have been found. These stones are cubical in 

 form, or rounded or pointed at one end or both ends, and provided 

 with two or more pits on the sides. They were evidently held 

 directly in the hand and used without handles. Although generally 

 small, they sometimes are of considerable size. The stone of which 

 they are made is foreign to the vicinity ; it is hard, as would be abso- 

 lutely necessary to be effectual in the use to which they were put. 



GRINDING STONES 



The most common variety of grinding stones is, of course, the 

 metate, or mill-stone, used in grinding corn. These implements have 

 a variety of forms. They iw^y be flat above and rounded below, 

 or flat on both sides, triangular on each face, or simply convex on 

 each side. None of them have feet like the Mexican metates. The 

 stone with which the grinding Avas done, or the one held in the hand, 

 also varies in shape, size, and evidences of use.*^ Stones with a depres- 

 sion in one face served as mortars. A stone in the form of a pestle, 

 flat on the end, served as a paint grinder. Several flat stones with 

 smooth surface, showing the effect of grinding, and others Avith slight 

 concavities, undoubtedly served the same purpose. Smooth stones 

 showing grinding on one or more faces were evidently the implements 

 with which the builders smoothed the walls of the houses after 

 the masonry had been laid ; others were used in polishing j^ottery. 



MISCELLANEOUS STONES 



Many stone balls, large or small, were found. Some of these show 

 chipping, others are ground smooth. Certain of these balls were evi- 

 dently used in a game popular at Cliff Palace, in which they were rolled 

 or dropped into deep pits and grooves. It appears that this game 

 was played by occupants of the sacred rooms, as the pits are common 

 in the kiva floors. Other stone balls were formerly tied to the end of 

 a handle with a thong of hide and used as a weapon. 



« At several places on the surfaces of projecting rocks forming the foundations of build- 

 ings may be noticed grooves where metates were sharpened. One or more of these occur 

 at the entrance to the "street" in front of room 51. The foundation of a wall in one 

 room was built directly upon one of these grooves, part of the groove being in sight, the 

 rest covered with masonry. Near room 92 there are many of these grooves as well as 

 small pits. 



