hbdliCka] stone industries OF THE ARGENTINE COAST 103 



"The hatchet-chisel [p. 197] was an mstrument for all uses; it 

 served as a laiife for cutting, as a wedge or hatchet for breaking the 

 bones, as chisel, scraper, rasp, etc. Wlien the edge became dull by- 

 usage it was revived by retouching, and when the wear became so 

 great that the edge could no more be repaired the stone was utilized 

 as a hammer. The size of this implement is variable; the smallest 

 are no longer than 2 or 3 cm. ; those of medium size, more abundant, 

 measure from 4 to 6 cm.; the larger ones are from 6 to 8 cm., and 

 some examples attain 10 cm. in length." 



As to the anvil-stones, they (p. 198) "present so great a variety 

 of forms that it can be said there are no two alike. Some are flat, 

 almost like slabs; others are flat but very thick; others are circular 

 in contour and flattened; others are rounded, and stiU others elon- 

 gated, quadrate, ovoid, cylindrical, conical, etc. Some are nothing 

 but angular blocks resulting from the natural breakage of the stone, 

 while others show wear or even rolling by water. Some, especially 

 among the smallest, have no more than a single cavity, but others 

 have several, their number extending to more than a score. Some- 

 times one of the faces of the anvil-stone is slightly concave and much 

 worn, as if some very hard substance had been triturated upon it. 

 Their size is also variable, the smallest measuring not more than 

 6 to 7 cm, in diameter, while the larger ones reach considerable 

 dimensions. One of the largest and most notable was found by 

 Carlos Ameghino at Punta Mogote; I consider it a monument of its 

 epoch. It is a nearly rectangular block measuring 25 cm. in length, 

 15 cm. in breadth by the same in height, and carrying some two 

 score of cavities distributed over nearly all its surfaces. At Punta 

 Porvenir I saw still interred in the Pampean earth, a large block of 

 quartzite in the form of a slab, of which the part that protruded above 

 the earth had more than half a square meter of surface and showed 

 its flat upper part covered with similar cavities. . . . 



"The hammers are rolled pebbles of very hard stone whose elon- 

 gated form permitted easy grasping by one extremity, and striking 

 with the other the pebbles to be shaped, which were steadied with 

 one hand in the hollows made in the anvils." 



Besides the presence of the three above-described classes of stone 

 utensfls, the hatchet-wedge or cliisel, the anvil-stone, and the ham- 

 mer, there are according to the author, two other incontestable 

 proofs of the special technique which he outlines (p. 201): 



"The first is, that nearly aU the hatchet-chisels present on the end 

 opposite that of the edge a small surface showing characteristic traces 

 of bruising, indirect results of blows of the hammer; there is the 

 clearest evidence that these contusions were produced by the counter- 

 shocks of the anvils on the surface of these inferior ends of the pebbles 



