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PART V I I STONE OBJECTS Numerically, objects of stone form a considerable part of the collections. The more important of them have been grouped together according to the purpose for which they were used. On account of the total absence of metals most implements were made of stone, the tool equipage being supplemented with others made of bone, burnt clay, and wood. While the objects belonging to the firstmentioned groups are dealt with in another connection, hardly anything can be learnt of the last, which, at any rate so far as our archaeological sites are concerned, have perished without leaving a trace. Apart from the sparse finds that have been made, e. g., in La Ciudadela, the frescoes of Teopancaxco may yield a modicum of information as regards wooden implements. Thus there are two figures equipped with arrows that are provided with heads in the form of balls, proving them to be designed for bird-hunting, )bird arrows).' Arrows of this kind are fairly common in South America, and this culture element may be regarded as possessing very great antiquity: Tufa of several varieties being very abundant, it is only natural that this material was extensively worked up into architectural details, sculptures and utensils. In fig. 261 is reproduced one of the small mortars that were recovered, and in fig. 274 part of a fairly large grinding slab which originally had three or four legs. Fragments of metates and manos, i. e. tripod slabs and stone rollers which were used in grinding maize, were also recovered, but - unlike the foregoing, which date from the Teotihuacan culture - were only rarely found underneath the floors of the house ruin. Implements of this class being very ancient, their absence only proves that the inhabitants did not occupy themselves with preparation of food, a conclusion supported by the absence of utilitarian pottery. Strangely enough there was found underneath one of the floors the object seen in fig. 265, made of basalt and classifiable as a polishing tool (stone) used in potterymaking. To the Teotihuacan culture belong two problematic objects, figs. 278 and 280. The former is made of very dark-coloured basalt. Its plane side is exceedingly carefully ground, and so is its edge. It has a slightly convex surface. It may of course have been a polisher of some sort, but it is perhaps worthy of mentioning that if the surface be wetted, the object is capable of serving as , Pei\afiel 1900: pI. 81 and 87. 2 NordenskiOld 1919:38 and map 3. a relatively useful mirror. The second object is of the same form, but the material consists of greyish eruptive rock, and the surface was once coated with thin film of plaster. An important implement, among other things in the manufacture of stone objects, is the hammer-stone. It is found in a variety of forms, from more or less oblong and rounded, to quite spherical. The latter were either held in the hand or fitted with a handle. The former kind is represented in figs. 271-272, the latter in fig. 282. Sahagun gives a fairly comprehensive account of the working methods of the stonecutter , in particular in the working up of rock of the harder kinds. »Die Steinschneider, die Kiinstler, schneiden den Bergkristall und den Amethyst und den Griinstein und den feinen Griinstein (Jadeit) mit Schmirgel ... und sie schaben sie mit einem zugehauenen Kieselstein . . . dann facettiert man sie mit Schmirgel und gibt ihnen Hochglanz mit Schmirgel. Und dann macht man sie fertig, gHittet sie mit dem Bambus».' Of especial interest is the evidence thus given as to the employment of emery and bamboo. Stone beads were evidently in very great favour as ornaments, seeing that no less than II6 of these objects were recovered, including 84 from Xolalpan. In size they vary from 0.6 cm. to 3.7 cm. in diameter, and in form from nearly flatness to a rough cylindricity. The perforations are always bored from both sides, and conical. The boring-through of small beads of a hard material must have presented considerable difficulties. It has been suggested that the Indians of pre-Spanish times were acquainted with the pump-drill, and with a tool of that description the perforating process would have been comparatiyely easy. NordenskiOld has however, with proofs of apparent conclusiveness, been able to show that the pump-drill is to be counted among the culture elements that the Indians at an early stage adopted from the whites: It would certainly...

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