INDIAN BURIAL PLACES IN CARPINTERIA. 15 



pains seems to have been taken to repair it with asphaltum 

 cement, showing the value of the utensil and probable labor 

 and difficulty of obtaining another. This burial place yielded 

 a unique specimen, being a mortar constructed from fossil- 

 iferous sandstone, similar and apparentl} r identical with that 

 found in the canyons of the Santa Ynez mountains. Unfor- 

 tunately a portion had been lost before burial, but its rare 

 beauty had evidently been prized, even in its fragmentary 

 condition. In one of the graves we found a solid stone, beau- 

 tifully rounded, and of about the diameter of a medium sized 

 mortar. Our conclusion was that this had been partially 

 finished and abandoned for some cause, perhaps on account 

 of a fracture that occurred in the upper portion. There is no 

 evidence, however, that these utensils were manufactured at 

 this village, but they were probably obtained and wrought in 

 the mountains of the Coast Range. The pestles were of the 

 same material as the mortars, and varied as usual in length 

 and size, and well adapted to the pounding of corn, acorns or 

 other seeds. The ollas, or cooking pots, were manufactured 

 from the usual magnesian mica or steatite. The question, 

 from what source did these people obtain this material, still 

 remains open, but further research will undoubtedly locate 

 the quarry within one hundred miles from Santa Barbara. 



Deposits of steatite are found in the San Rafael Mountains 

 and on Catalina Island. At the latter place, in the quarry 

 where the material abounds, partially constructed ollas were 

 found by Schumaker and others. 



If the habits of these aborigines were nomadic, the trans- 

 portation of their heavy stone utensils must have been labor- 

 ious. One of the ollas which we unearthed was sixteen inches 

 in height and nearly the same in diameter, and weighing 

 nearly seventy-five pounds, and the mortars often weighed 

 even more. The larger olla has a very small aperture, and 

 like most of the others, the thickness increases towards the 

 bottom. A somewhat smaller one has a much wider mouth, 

 and is ornamented below the rim with markings in the form 

 of a chevron. Another is low and flat in proportion to its 



