56 GUP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDAEIAN SCULPTURES. 



I am not aware that other stones of analogous character have been 

 noticed in Mexico ; nor have I thus far obtained precise information as to 

 the occurrence of cupped stones or boulders in parts of the American con- 

 tinent which are situated south of Mexico.* 



In connection with North American cup-stones should be mentioned 

 boulders or rocks with an artificial cavity, or with cavities, serving for the 

 trituration of grain, and thus forming Avhat might be called stationary mor- 

 tars. Their occurrence extends over a large portion of North America; 

 but there is considerable difference in the chai'acter of the cavities, as the 

 following statements will show. 



Colonel Jones saw in the middle and upper parts of Georgia "large 

 boulders — some of them waist-high — permanent in their location, whose 

 tops had been hollowed out for mortars. These cavities were circular in 

 form, and capable of holding a half peck or more. They may be regarded 

 as public property, and afford proof of the stability of the agricultural popu- 

 lation by which they were used."! In historical times, however, the south- 

 ern tribes to whom Colonel Jones refers are known to have generally used 

 wooden moi'tai's for pounding maize. Adair alludes to their use and describes 

 the method of hollowing them out by means of fire.J Hunter notices the 

 wooden mortars of the Indians among whom he lived; but "in addition," 

 he says, "each village has one or two large stone mortars for pounding 

 corn: they are placed in a central situation, are public property, and are 

 used in rotation by the different families."§ 



inhabitants of the country. It is so .artfully balanced upon its axis as to revolve at the slightest touch 

 of the finger ; but if a greater force be used it will stand without the least apparent motion. Its sur- 

 face contains some holes capable of holding a small quantity of water. It appears to have anciently 

 served as .a land-mark. There is another of these stones to the east, about six miles distant." — Vol. VI, 

 The Monuments of Xew Spain, by M. Dupaix, p. 425. 



*I quote, however, from the "Mat^rianx" (1>^67, p. 398) the following note, addressed to M. 

 Gabriel de Mortillet by Professor P. .Strobel, and dated Buenos Ayres, May 26, 1866: — 



"Apres les articles de Morlot, Aymard, Simoniu et Bouvet. sur les pierres h ^cnelles et :\ bassins, 

 il ne sera pas sans ijiti5ret pour vous d'apprendre qu'on en trouve de semblables dans la Sierra de San 

 Luis. On y voit de tres-nombreux bassins creus^s dans la roche, de diverses dimensions. lis out 

 servi aux ludiens pour ^eraser et broycr les fruits et les graines, et peut-etre mfeme, i\ une ^poque moins 

 ancienne, pour triturer le miner.ai aurifere de ccs moutagnes. II existe aussi des pierres a bassins dans 

 les montagnes de Mendoza, datant de I'^poque des Incas. Ces divers bassins ont pu servir a trois usages 

 bien ditfdrents: riJligieux, gastronomique et m(5tallurgiqne." 



t Jones (Charles C): Antiquities of the Southern Indians; p. 313. 



t Adair : The History of the American Indians ; p. 416. 



§Hunter: Manners and Customs of Several Indian Tribes located west of the Mississippi ; Phila- 

 delphia, 1823, p. 269. 



