Atlatls were still the principal weapons, but late in the period the bow and arrow came into use. This new and superior weapon may have been brought by small groups of newcomers to the Southwest or, perhaps, simply the idea spread to the Anasazi from neighboring people. In any case, the bow is believed to have been introduced from some other area. Two new implements which also appeared at this time were grooved mauls or hammers and axes notched for hafting. Before the introduction of axes it is believed that timbers for house construction were felled by fire. Much of our information about these people still comes from burials. These were more often single interments than was the case in the preceding period. There were no definite cemeteries in the villages, and bodies were placed wherever it was most convenient, often in refuse heaps where digging was easiest. In caves the dead were commonly laid in abandoned cists or in crevices. Baskets were still the chief mortuary offerings, but some pottery was placed with the dead, as well as a variety of other objects including ornaments, pipes, food, gaming sets, and flutes. The latter are of particular interest, for they indicate some knowledge of music. In the grave of one old man, believed to have been a priest or chief, were four finely made flutes. They could still be played when they were excavated and had a clear, rich tone. A characteristic offering, found in almost all graves, is a pair of new unworn sandals. Ornaments interred with the dead show that turquoise was now being used for beads and pendants. It was sometimes employed with shell pieces for mosaic work set in wood. In other cases it was combined with whole shells, as in one magnificent cuff, found on the wrist of an old woman, which was five inches wide and consisted of hundreds of perfectly matched olivella shells with a fine turquoise in the center.[2] One of the most interesting of all interments was the famous “burial of the hands” in Canyon del Muerto in Arizona.[92] This find consisted of a pair of hands and forearms lying side by side, palms upward, on a bed of grass. Wrapped around the wrists were three necklaces with abalone shell pendants, one of which was as large as the hand itself. An ironical, yet strangely pathetic offering, consisted of two pairs of some of the finest sandals which have ever been found. Over the entire burial lay a basket nearly two feet in diameter. Doubtless a fascinating story lies behind this strange grave, but what it was we shall never know. Of all the theories which have been advanced the one which best explains this remarkable occurrence is that the individual may have been caught under a rockfall and that only the hands and forearms could be released and given suitable burial; but of course all this is pure conjecture. SUMMARY