The Topanga Culture: Final Report on Excavations, 1948Treganza, Adan E. (Adan Eduardo)
History
The Topanga Culture: Final Report on Excavations, 1948
Treganza, Adan E. (Adan Eduardo)
California -- Antiquities; Topanga Canyon (Calif.)
The artifacts from LAn-2 constitute a problem of their own and will be
described in a later section of this paper covering the excavation of that
site.
FLAKED TOOLS
With few exceptions, the additional flaked tools represent roughly the
same sample as already revealed. Concave scrapers, thumbnail scrapers, a
crescentic stone, and new projectile point types make up the adjunct to
the typology. The frequencies for most of the groups of flaked tools are
reasonably higher than was heretofore indicated. This is probably the
result of the more extensive excavations carried out in the areas of
greatest artifact concentration.
[Illustration: Figure 1. Location of Features and Burials]
_Scraper Planes_
Numerically, scraper planes as an entire class constitute the largest
single stylized group of artifacts from the Tank Site. Some forms display
a marked perfection in flaking technique, and are comparable to
illustrated specimens from the San Dieguito industry (M. J. Rogers, 1929;
1939, pl. 8, _i-j_) on the southern California coast and in the Lake
Mohave Culture (Campbell _et al._, pls. XXVI, XXVII) in the eastern
desert. The majority, however, exhibit only generalized characteristics
with considerable latitude in external form suggesting that their
manufacture required little precision on the part of the maker, and
probably, also, they served essentially as an all-purpose tool. The nature
of the wear on much-used specimens indicated hard usage, such as would
result from repeated contact on an unyielding surface.
Figure 2 illustrates "ideal" scraper-plane types and the following
description is a brief summary of the recognized forms. (For photographs,
see Treganza and Malamud, 1950, pls. 17-19.)
_Type IA_
Round to oval in outline, flat base chipped about the entire perimeter.
Top surface flaked to a near symmetrical dome shape.
_Type IB_
Like IA, except that the upper surface rises to a peak or ridge somewhat
off-center.
_Type IC_
Like IA, but higher and with more latitude in form. Flakes are struck from
the perimeter at a steep angle so that on most specimens height exceeds
diameter.
_Type IIA_
Form is variable, but tends toward subrectangular. About three-quarters of
the basal margin evidences flaking, the remaining portion consists of an
unretouched straight edge caused by the removal of a large primary flake.
_Type IIB_
Like IIA, except that the worked edges display a marked degree of
secondary flaking or resharpening, to the point where sections of the
steepened sides are notably undercut.
_Type III_
Distinct from other forms in that they are shaped from angular rocks on
which two separate working faces have been developed. In other respects
the specimens in this category fall essentially into the IIA class.
Table 2
Frequency of Scraper Planes by Depth
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