The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))McGee, W J
History
The Seri Indians. (1898 N 17 / 1895-1896 (pages 1-344*))
McGee, W J
Seri Indians; Seri language; Yuman languages
A tuff implement of suggestively ax-like form is shown in plate
XLVIII; it is firmer and less pulverulent but more vesicular
than most implements of its class; it weighs but 7 ounces (0.20
kilogram). The specimen was picked up in a ruinous jacal, which had
evidently been occupied temporarily within a fortnight, on the summit
of the great shell-mound forming Punta Antigualla. The somewhat
indefinite texture and color render it difficult to distinguish between
natural and artificial features; but careful examination indicates
that it is wholly natural in form and in nine-tenths of the surface,
and that the ax-like shape expresses nothing more than accidents of
structure and wave-work. This interpretation is practically established
by the slight battering along the edges and about the smaller end, as
illustrated in the edge view; for this wear of use, which has produced
a distinctive surface, is practically absent from the notches which
give the ax-like effect. Besides the battering, the only artificial
marks are ancient fire-stains on one of the faces. On the whole it is
clear that the artificial appearance catching the eye at first glance
is purely fortuitous, and that the specimen is but a natural pebble
very slightly modified by ordinary use.
A suggestive specimen is illustrated in plate XLIX; it is of
purplish-gray granitoid rock, of decided toughness and considerable
hardness, and weighs 12½ ounces (0.35 kilogram). The surface and
general form indicate that it is a natural pebble entirely without
marks of artificial use; but the regular curvature of the principal
face (the shape is that of a segment of a cylinder rounded toward
the ends) suggests artificial shaping, while it was found far in the
interior, near Barranca Salina, whither it must have been carried from
the coast. It may possibly be a fragment of a pestle subsequently
wave-worn; but all the probabilities are that it is wholly natural, and
that its suggestive features are fortuitous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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