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.)
Newly acquired mortars are represented but by three fragmentary pieces.
Only one is of sufficient size to suggest an outer diameter of
approximately 12 inches, and all three appear to be of the cobble type
similar to the complete specimen collected in 1947 (Treganza and Malamud
1950, pl. 24, _a_). Considering the area excavated and the very small
number of both mortars and pestles that were recovered, it would be safe
to assume this complex was of little significance in the history of the
Tank Site. Their function was probably concerned primarily with something
other than the food economy, such as grinding pigments or functioning in
some specific capacity. Wooden mortars and pestles can not be totally
excluded, but the great preponderance of manos and metates would probably
preclude any serious assumption that mortars and pestles ever played any
important roll at the Tank Site.
Included in feature 18 was a spherical cobble 8 inches in diameter, marked
by a well-defined, shallow, circular depression. Its surface bears the
marks of shaping by pecking and some rubbing; the depression is
well-smoothed, as if worn down by constant use. We can not say whether the
piece is completed, as such; or whether, possibly, it represents a small
mortar in an arrested state of manufacture.
_Pestles_
Five complete pestles were recovered, providing a total of nine for the
two seasons. The specimens this year differ from those already known in
being more stylized, i.e., four are almost perfectly cylindrical and show
wear at both ends. All are made of sandstone and have gently rounded
pounding surfaces. Specimens 1, 2, and 4, as listed below, were found in a
single cache.
1. Shaped over-all by pecking, forming a slightly tapered cylinder,
somewhat bulbed at either extremity. Both ends evidence use. This example,
by far the largest recovered from the Tank Site, compares in many respects
to pestles associated with later cultures of the coast and interior.
Length, 31.5 cm.; average diameter, 6.9 cm. (pl. 24, _a_).
2. Entirely shaped by pecking and grinding. Two opposite sides somewhat
flattened by abrasion as if used as a mano on a slab metate, and resulting
in a somewhat flattened cylinder form. Both ends used. Length, 13.5 cm.;
average diameter, 6.8 cm. (pl. 24, _c_).
3. Similar to specimen 2, though more nearly circular in cross section and
surface shows no grinding. Length 16.5 cm.; average diameter, 7 cm.
4. Completely worked by pecking and grinding. Cylindrical form distorted
by slight tapering and dorsoventral flattening. Used at both ends. Length,
15.2 cm.; average diameter, 6.5 cm.
5. This specimen is composed of a highly weathered sandstone so that the
surface treatment is no longer discernable. Shaped to a truncated conoid
and apparently used only on the larger end. Length, 18.5 cm.; greatest
diameter, 8.5 cm.
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