PERFORATED STONES. 



Perforated stones, of the character of those considered in this chapter, 

 have been found in such abundance on the mainland and islands of 

 Southern California that they are now prominent objects in all collections 

 gathered from that region. Many have been taken from graves where they 

 were associated with other articles, while many more have been obtained 

 from the ancient refuse-heaps and shellmounds, particularly from those on 

 the islands. 



Similar stones have been found in other parts of the world, and have 

 been classed as hammer-stones, weights for digging-sticks, club-heads, net- 

 sinkers, or as spindle-whorls. 



The particular uses to which these California stones were put will prob- 

 ably always remain conjectural, though it is evident that the wants or neces- 

 sities they were intended to supply must have been very common, since they 

 are found to be widely distributed among uncivilized tribes. As it is more 

 than probable that the same wants, under similar conditions, gave rise to 

 the same means of satisfying them, we are justified in looking to the use 

 made of similar stones by savage tribes of recent times for some expla- 

 nation of the purposes to which they were applied by the Indians of Cali- 

 fornia. In this connection it is of interest to note that it is to the negro 

 tribes of Africa we must look for information in relation to one class of these 

 stones. Mr. William J. Burchell, in the account of his travels in the interior 

 of Southern Africa,* has given a figure of an implement used by the Bush- 

 men, and the following information in relation to it : " We were visited by 

 two natives * * * out in search of wild roots * * * 

 The other earned what my Hottentots called a graaffstok (a digging-stick), 

 to which there was affixed a heavy stone to increase its force in pecking up 



* Vol. ii, p. 29, and fifmro on p. 45, 1824. 



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