114 BUREAU OF AMERICAIST ETHNOLOGY [bull. GO 



sacred paraphernalia of a Ilopi altar. The present writer found one 

 embedded in a bin of charred corn in a cliff house on the Eio Mancos. 

 Hamrnerstones of all ordinary varieties are present in large numbers, 

 and abrading stones and polishing implements are of common types. 

 Chipped implements — arrowpoints, spearheads, knives, scrapers, and 

 drill points — are of usual types and are not very abundant or 

 especially noteworthy. The materials used include obsidian, jasper, 

 and many varieties of chalcedony. Great skill was evinced in the 

 manufacture of beads and other small trinkets, the boring being 

 done with the pump drill. Bone was much used for awls, and shell 

 for ornaments. The bow and arrow was the principal weapon, 

 while the atlatl, or throw-stick, was in pretty general use. 



Mines of turquoise were worked extensively in New Mexico, 

 Nevada, and Arizona. This semiprecious stone was used for orna- 

 ments and especially for inlay or mosaic work, some very attractive 

 specimens of the latter having been collected, and it was distributed 

 by trade to distant parts, even to Mexico. There are few traces of 

 the working of metals, the silversmith's art of recent times having 

 been introduced by Spaniards, and the copper bells occasionally 

 found are probably of Mexican origin. The weaving arts and bas- 

 ketry were practiced with much skill. 



In three important branches of material culture — the ceramic, 

 the textile, and the stone-building arts — this area stands far above 

 any other north of middle Mexico. Little evidence of great antiquity 

 beyond that furnished by the complex cultural conditions and innu- 

 merable deserted dwelling places and acequias has been found. 



Among those who have contributed observations of scientific 

 value regarding the antiquities are: Blake, Cope, Powell, Cushing, 

 Fewkes, Bandelier. Matthews, Hewett, Russell, Hodge, Holmes, 

 Hough, Jackson, the Mindeleffs, Nordenskiold, Stephen, Pepper, the 

 Stevensons, Wheeler, Whipple, Simpson, Abert, Morgan, Dorsey, 

 Bartlett, Voth, Bourke, Prudden, Kidder, and N. C. Nelson. 



7. The California Area 



Notwithstanding the diversified physical characters of the State 

 and the extraordinary assemblage of linguistic groups within its 

 limits, the native culture of California was and is primitive. At 

 the same time it is set off with remarkable distinctness from the 

 equally primitive cultures of other areas, especially those of the At- 

 lantic side of the continent. In the desert and semidesert regions of 

 the extreme south and in northwestern Mexico, occupied mainly by 

 the Yuman stock, an exceptionally primitive state of culture pre- 

 vailed. It is observed that the Santa Barbara region, including the 

 islands off the coast, was in earlv times the center of a somewhat ex- 



