114 BUKEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 52 



Tho archeoloo^c remains found associated Avitli the several above- 

 mentioned features of the coast are, fiii-st, numerous stones with a 

 few objects of other materials, showing man's handiwork; and, sec- 

 ond, skeletal remains of man himself. 



The worked stones consist of utensils, such as mealing- or grinding- 

 stones, mostly in fragments; hammer-stones; pecuHar anvil-stones 

 (stones which show the effects of having served as supports on which 

 other hard objects, probably stones, were worked) ; highly interesting 

 implement-like chipped pebbles, of the types described by Ameghino 

 and Outes, derived from hard pebbles of fluvial origin, which are 

 found in large numbei-s along the shore in these localities; arrow 

 points, scrapei-s, and nuclei of yellowish-white quartzite, brought to 

 these regions from the inland hills; and a great many flakes and other 

 rejects of manufacture. The smaller objects, in general, fall into 

 two main classes distinguished as "white" and "black," the former 

 })roceeding from fragments of massive whitish quartzite, the latter 

 from pebbles of jas])er, quartzite, etc., ranging from black to various 

 tints of red, brown, and yellow. (Pis. 9-12.) 



These two classes of specimens — the light and the dark — were 

 always fountl in association. On the plaj'as, both black and gray, the 

 worked stones and flakes, wherever they occurred, were invariably 

 commingleil. No single spot was found, and many w(M-e examined, 

 where either the "white" or the "black" chipped stones existed 

 alone. In the district of Mar del Plata the heavier objects, as mortars, 

 pestles, mullei"s, and the hammer- and an\al-stones, are made from 

 the coarse local quartzite, ledges of which are exposed in a number 

 of places along the shore. In the more southern parts, quartzite is 

 wanting and one finds occasionally hanmiers and anvil- stones made 

 from stout pieces of tosca, utilized for want of better material. 

 Now and then a smaller stone showing man's handiwork, of the 

 ]Mar del Plata quartzite, will be found as far south as Necochea. The 

 material of such s})ecimens has undoubtedly been derived from the 

 more northern locality. 



The flaked stones and chips (particularly the black ones) are 

 generall}' strewn over the surface of the }>layas, as they would occur 

 on sites utilized by the natives for their shops. The depressions 

 among the medanos, ])articularly the more sheltered and protected 

 ones farther inland,' were especially adapted for such a purpose. It 

 is inferred that most of the implements made in these shops were 

 carried away to be utilized inlanil, but a few, with the stones from 

 wliicli flakes were secured and with the refuse of the shaj)ing work, 

 remained on the ground. Some of the mealing stones and anvil- 

 stones were found apparently in the exact places where they were 

 last used, and often the flakage was more plentiful in the imme- 

 diate vicinity of the latter than elsewhere. Of course, as the depres- 



