424 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



been mounted as ornamental hatchets. One type has a small per- 

 foration drilled in at one upper corner. This type is always thick 

 and rather too bulbous to be called a tablet. Other types have the 

 hole either near the top or in a central position and part way down. 

 The position varies from 2 millimeters from the edge to a point half 

 way down. Plate 131 illustrates some of these pendant stones which, 

 after all, may have been merely ornamental weights. All the 

 specimens in plate 131 are in the Yager collection. 



Pestles. Pestles are stones used for crushing or pounding sub- 

 stances in mortars. A true pestle is an elongated hammerhead. It is 

 a shaft or handle with a pounding or pulverizing face and used in 

 conjunction wnth a wood or stone mortar. Pestles are of two prin- 

 cipal types : ( i ) long cylindrical shafts with grinding face at one 

 end; (2) shorter shafts or handles with expanded grinding faces 

 (sometimes called "bell pestles"). 



Cylindrical pestles are worked out by a chipping, pecking and 

 abrading process. Some are more than 2 feet in length, others not 

 more than 8 inches. Some are well rounded and polished and others 

 only roughly chipped to form. Diameters vary from i^ inches to 3 or 

 even 4 inches. One class of cylindrical pestle has the upper end 

 carved in the shape of some conventionalized animal head. These 

 have been found in the Seneca River region, the Hudson valley near 

 Albany and near Glens Falls. 



Cylindrical pestles are found almost entirely on Algonkian sites 

 of all periods. A few very early Iroquoian sites in the State have 

 cylindrical pestles but they do not appear in later sites. To the con- 

 trary, pestles are found on the most recent of Algonkian sites and 

 frequently old colonial families still have in their possession pestles 

 that w^ere found in the cabins of Algonkian Indians on their estates, 

 or given them with the stone or wooden mortar. Mr M. R. Har- 

 rington has collected several such specimens. 



Bell pestles are comparatively rare and most specimens have come 

 from the Genesee valley above Mount Morris. A considerable num- 

 ber were found by Mr F. C. Crofoot at Sonyea. Bell pestles are 

 generally found on old sites that may or may not be Algonkian. They 

 seem to belong in some cases to the mound-builder culture. 



Pigments. The Indians of New York without doubt had many 

 kinds of pamts and pigments. We can not attempt to describe the 

 vegetable dyes and stains from the viewpoint of archeology, for 

 none has survived burial and the reductions of time. The ethnolog- 

 ist will describe many that have survived and some that are still in 

 use by the New York Indians. Of mineral p-gments we can speak- 

 more certainly, as these belong to the realm of the archeologist 



