142 



BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BULL 52 



smoothed at the larger end by use. Three other pestles somewhat 

 pointed at both ends are slightly flattened on one side by use as 

 mullers. One rectangular muller with rounded corners and margins, 



5f inches long, 3i inches wide, and 

 21 inches thick, made of quartzite, 

 is smoothed and flattened on one 

 face by use. 



SOUTHERN GROUP RIO NEGRO 



DISTRICT 



'sJ| 



.T'l 



Fig. 33. Quartzite muller-pestle of exceptional 

 size and sliape. (| actual size.) Campo Fe- 

 ral ta. 



The collections made by Doctor 

 Hrdlicka in the southern area, 

 principally on sites about the 

 mouth of the Rio Negro, number 

 several hundred objects, including 

 mortars, pestles, mullers, anvils, 

 hammers, bolas-stones, and an ex- 

 tensive series of chipped imple- 

 ments, unfinished chipped forms, 

 and the refuse of chipping opera- 

 tions. The larger implements, 

 chiefly domestic utensils, are much 

 like corresponding varieties to the 

 north of Bahia Blanca. The well- 

 specialized mortars, pestles, and 

 mullers were shaped by the pecking- 

 abrading processes from masses of quartzite and sandstone. Excel- 

 lent examples of mortars made of sandstone are shown in figure 35. 

 The numerous mullers are well-shaped and fuiished and range in 

 form from discoidal to subrect angular outlines. Two 

 specimens are illustrated in figure 36, a, h. A cigar- 

 shaped pestle made of quartzite, 15 inches in length 

 and 2^ inches in diameter at the middle part, is shown 

 in figure 37, a. It tapers gradually from the middle 

 to the rounded points. The surface, which has been 

 finished by pecking, is somewhat smoothed by use 

 toward the ends. A second specimen, made of sand- 

 stone, 16 inches in length, is unsymmetric in shape 

 and appears to be unfinished. It is larger at the lower 

 end and tapers somewhat irregularly to a rounded 

 point at the top. The fragment of a third pestle 

 is shown in figure 37, h. 



An exceptional specimen is the broad blade of an axlike imple- 

 ment, the upper portion or poll of which has been lost. It is made 



Fig. 34. Pestle of 

 gritty sandstone. 

 (i actual size.) 

 Mar del Plata. 



