M4 



MORTARS 



[b. a. e. 



hundred. SomeoftheW estern tribes set 

 a conical basket, after removingits bottom, 

 within the rim of tlie mortar bowl to 

 serve as a hopper for retaining the meal. 



group of mortars in granite sl 

 (holmes) 



Primitive forms of this utensil are the 

 rawhide mortars used by the Plains tribes 

 for pounding pemmican, the piece of 

 rawhide being 

 forced into a de- 

 pression in the 

 ground, forming a 

 basin. Again, the 

 hide was placed be- 

 neath the stone or 

 wooden mortar to 

 catch the particles 

 that fell over. The 

 rough basket - like 

 receptacle of sticks 



set in the ground by the Yuman tribes 

 of lower Colorado r. is probably the 

 rudest known form of this utensil. In 



of many kinds, including tobacco, and a 

 wide range of food products, as maize, 

 seeds, nuts, berries, roots, bark, dried 

 meats, fish, grasshop- 

 pers, etc. A note- 

 worthy group of paint 

 mortars or plates, the 

 use of which has here- 

 tofore been regarded 

 as problematical, are 

 described under the 

 heading Notched plates. 

 The wooden mortar 

 was usually made of a 

 short section of a log, 

 hollowed out at one 

 end and in some cases 

 sharpened at the other 

 for setting in the 

 ground ; but the recep- 

 tacles were sometimes 

 made in the side of a 

 log or were cutout as in- 

 dividual utensils in basin or trough shape. 

 The wooden mortar was in much more gen- 

 eral use in districts where suitable stone 

 was notavailable, asin Florida, inportions 

 of the Mississippi valley, and on lower 

 (uloradi) r. Among the remarkable 



WOODEN Mortar, cocopa 



Stone mortar with Basket 

 hopper; california 



WOODEN mortar, 



archeologic finds made by Cushing at Key 

 Marco, Fla., are a number of small cup- 

 like mortars with mallet-shaped pestles, 

 handsomely formed and carefully fin- 

 ished. 



HUPA MORTAR WITH BASKET HOPPERS. ( MASON ) 



size stone mortars vary from that of the 

 tiny paint cup found among the toilet 

 articles of the warrior to the substan- 

 tial basin holding several 

 gallons. The larger ones, 

 especially those exca- 

 V a t e d in rock masses, 

 were probably often 

 used for "stone-boiling." 

 (See Food. ) 



The substances pulverized in mortars 

 were the various minerals used for paint, 

 potsherds and shells for tempering clay, 

 etc. , medicinal ftnd ceremonial substances 



Ancient wooden mor- 

 tar, Florida; 



WOODEN Mortar, Iroquois 

 (lafitau) 



MALL PAINT MORTAR, 

 HuPA; 1-7 (mason) 



(cushing) 



Speaking of the Indians of Carolina, 

 Lawson says: "The savage men never 

 beat their corn to make bread, but that is 

 the women's work, especially the girls, of 

 whom you shall see four beating with 

 long great pestles in a narrow wooden 

 mortar; and everyone keeps her stroke so 

 exactly that 'tis worthy of admiration." 



