26 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



near the base of the implement. Holmes figures a single grooved celt from 

 Chiriqui, which is, however, different in type from this one. Both may have been 

 importations. 



Polishing Stones. — The uses of the potter's polishing stone 

 are well known. For such purposes preference was given 

 to pebbles of jasper (figs. 14 and 15) and chalcedony (fig. 16). 

 The entire surface of some stones is completely altered by 

 long-continued wear, while others are only slightly faceted. 

 Metates. — The traffic in ancient mealing stones by those 

 inhabiting Chiriqui during the historic period has reduced 

 the original number materially. In a letter to Professor Marsh, 

 McNiel leads one to infer that these hand-mills were found 

 either on the surface above the graves or immediately below 

 the surface, which made their subsequent removal by the 

 natives comparatively easy. Dr. J. King Merritt speaks of 

 the corn-grinders as " frequently occurring in the huacas." 

 We have more definite knowledge of the disposition of me- 

 tates in the ancient graves of the peninsula of Nicoya, Costa 

 Rica, where Hartman 1 found as many as three metates in a 

 single bunched burial. In two cases the metate was placed 

 immediately over a skull, thus protecting it from the pressure 

 of the soil. This was in the burial ground at Las Guacas, 

 where as many as two thousand metates were found, a number 

 far exceeding that from any single locality in Panama. 

 Chiriquian metates are not only less numerous than those of Nicoya, but are 

 also distinctly different in aspect. They are made to assume animal forms, i. e., 

 each specimen represents a complete zoomorphic unit, the subject chosen being 

 the jaguar. In these respects they resemble the metates of the ancient Guetares 

 culture of the Costa Rican highlands. On the other hand the metates of the 

 Nicoyan peninsula are three-legged and are more nearly related to Mexican than 



Fig- 14- Fig. 15. Fig. 16. 



Figs. 14, 15. — Jasper polishing stones. '/* Fig. 1 6.— Chalcedony polishing stone. a /« 



1 C. V. Hartman. Archeological researches on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Mem. 

 Carnegie museum. III, no. 1, 16 and PL XL VII, 1907. 



