Laserfiche WebLink
1 <br />I~ <br />' Metric data were available for 89 metates or metate fragments <br />and 51 manos or mano fragments. All were manufactured from tabular <br />' sandstone; 57 percent of the manos or mano fragments were <br />manufactured from granite river cobbles and the balance were <br />manufactured from sandstone cobbles. Since most of these specimens <br />' were incomplete, thickness was the only metric variable to be <br />investigated. Considering the manner in which ground stone <br />artifacts were used, thickness may be the most sensitive <br />discriminator of artifact function. <br />' The thickness of all artifacts identified as metates or metate <br /> fragments conformed to a normal (symmetrical) distribution with an <br /> average of 2.175 centimeters. The thickness of all artifacts <br />' identified as manos or mano fragments conformed to a normal <br /> (symmetrical) distribution with an average of 4.04 cm. There was <br /> very little overlap between the two distributions, such that just <br /> under 40$ of the variability in ground stone thickness could be <br />' attributed statistically to the mano/metate contrast. Differences <br />among sites, land form, vegetation zone and so forth, exerted no <br />measurable effect on ground stone thickness. Furthermore, the <br />average thickness of 16 metates excavated from different strata on <br />site SBL2431 at the base of Rabbit Mountain did not differ from <br />that of the surface sample. The ratio of manos to metates <br />recovered from the test unit on this site was also within the <br />' expected range for the surface sample. Again, functional <br />consistency across sites, and possibly through time, is suggested. <br />This finding is also consistent with Scott Cummings' (1991:10, 13) <br />conclusion that grass seeds were the food items processed on all <br />metates at site SBL2931 regardless of stratigraphic location or <br />changes in background pollen levels. <br />' Flaked stone artifacts were relatively rare in the present <br />sample. However, test excavations at site 5BL2431 demonstrated <br />that a paucity of surface artifacts did not necessarily indicate a <br />correspondingly sparse subsurface assemblage. Locally dense <br />' 76 <br /> <br />