TOOLS

Core and Blade Industry

CHART 3

The making of parallel-sided flint blades, prismatic in section, evidently diffused into the Americas at 10,000 to 8000 B.C. This is a tool-making technique of the late phases of the Old World Paleolithic, and in a miniature form was particularly characteristic of the Mesolithic. It is an element of the British Mountain complex of the western Arctic (MacNeish, 1959).

Long flint blades have been found from the Clovis type site in levels that yield bones of mammoth (Green, 1963). Blades are also dated about 8000 B . C in the Tehuacan sequence of central Mexico. In highland Ecuador they appear to be part of the El Inga complex described by Bell (1960), and are found at an early date in the preceramic sequence at Ancon on the central Peruvian coast (Lanning, 1967, p. 41). Burins are an occasional accompanying tool.

This blade tradition is somewhat poorly defined, due to the apparent lack of cores. It is by no means as clear as is the microlithic blade tradition with tongue-shaped cores that entered the American Arctic about 4000 B . C This latter did not spread southward and seems to have no connection with the history to be described below.

Evidently blades were a part of the initial spread of bifacially chipped projecdle points on the Clovis time level (10,000-8,000 B . C ) , but they rapidly dis- appeared in North America and are completely missing from the long Archaic sequences. In South America, bifacial chipping also completely disappears from the northern part of the Pacific coast in pre- ceramic times.

Continuity in this tradition seems to exist only in highland Mexico. In the Tehuacan sequence, Mac- Neish (1961) found flint, prismatic blades dadng

continuously back to 8000 B . C in the Ajuereado Phase. These were detached from cores on which the striking platform formed an angle of less than 90°

with the working face (chart 3-23). True cylindrical fluted cores and the use of obsidian rather than flint, which were characteristic of the Aztec industry that lasted until Spanish contact, date after 2000 B.C.

(chart 3-21).

The practice of drawing blades of obsidian from prepared cores does not begin in the Chiapas sequence until Chiapa ii (1000 B . C ; chart 3-25). A similar initial date prevails for the Soconusco sequence, where the first blades are found in Conchas i (800- 600 B.C.; chart 3-26). They are completely missing in the earlier Ocos Phase.

On the north coast of Colombia, the Reichel- Dolmatoffs (1956, pp. 235-238) found an abundant flint working industry confined to the Momil i Phase (700-400 B.C.; chart 3, 29-31). This included cores with an angle of less than 90° between the striking platform and the face, from which blades were detached. It also included the detached blades and used blades, which had been worn down to the shape of "perforators." These latter will be described from the Poverty Point complex of the Mississippi Valley.

T h a t this industry is confined to Momil i, which shows a number of other Mesoamerican traits, is quite striking. T h e technique does not continue in the Colombian sequence.

The blade technique was reintroduced on the coast of Ecuador after 1500 B . C (chart 3-33). Meggers (1966, p. 56) says:

Small obsidian blades and flakes abound in Chorrera Phase refuse, another sharp contrast with the Early Formative situa- tion. Although obsidian was the preferred material for stone implements in the highlands during preceramic times, it was not employed by people of the Valdivia and Machalilla Phases.

Since both the material and the technique of chipping have deep

48 SMITHSONIAN C O N T R I B U T I O N S T O A N T H R O P O L O G Y ^{VOLUME 11} roots in Mesoamerica, their appearance constitutes additional

evidence of Mesoamerican contact. As often happened, the Ecuadorians outstripped their teachers, and many of the thin obsidian blades are straight, sharp-edged and as transparent as window glass.

So far as available evidence indicates, this core and blade industry did not rediffuse south of Ecuador on the Formative time level.

In the Valley of Mexico, Vaillant (1935, pp. 239- 244) describes obsidian knives from Zacatenco and El Arbolillo. T h e knives are long blades pressed off a conical core. Flint fragments are quite rare. Most of the obsidian is streaked white-gray or golden green;

black obsidian comprised only 10 percent of the Ticoman specimens. Only 21 examples of long thin obsidian blades are described by Lorenzo (chart 3-19; 1965, pp. 33-34) from Tlatilco. Apparendy cores were not found; but judging from the illustrated blade, they were of the cyclindrical variety. This industry lasts until Aztec times.

It is probable that both in the Valley of Mexico sequence and in Veracruz, this technique extends back into preceramic times and connects up with the Paleo- Indian phase as at Tehuacan. Data are lacking, however, and for this reason the bars on chart 3 have not been extended back beyond the limits of chron- ological knowledge. Cores and blades are found in the earliest levels of excavations at El Trapiche and Chalahuites on the Veracruz coast (chart 3, 16-17).

In these lower levels, in the excavations of Medellin, Wallrath, and the writer, there was a small portion of flint blades, but the majority were made of black obsidian. Higher up in the strata cuts, black was replaced by a translucent smoky gray obsidian (chart 3-15). Drucker (1952, p. 145) notes that black and gray obsidian were quite common in the La Venta excavations. No fragments with greenish tints were found. None of the blades were complete; all showed signs of extensive use. As in the highlands, this technique continues through succeeding periods.

Flint cores, blades, and worn-out blades (called

"perforators") are the most abundant artifacts of the Poverty Point culture of the Lower Mississippi Valley (chart 3, 10-12; Ford and Webb, 1956). From the type site, 23,183 specimens of the industry have been collected and studied. Of these, 409 are cores, con- sisting of flint pebbles with a striking platform that forms an angle of about 50° with the face from which blades were detached. More common than unused blades are those with the edges extensively worn until they have the form called "perforators." In the Lower Mississippi this industry is confined to the 1200 to 400 B.C. period. In the Upper Mississippi Valley and the Ohio area, it is a marker of the Hopewellian Phase and dates from about 200 B . C - A . D . 300 (chart 3,

1-4). At this time flake knives are found in Hopewell burial sites from western New York State to the eastern border of Kansas, and from the Great Lakes to the Florida Gulf coast (chart 3-7). Detailed references are too numerous to be listed here (Griffin, ed., 1952). Most of the cores in the U p p e r Mississippi Valley Hopewell have an acute angle between striking platform and the face from which blades were de- tached (chart 3-6). However, in Ohio Hopewell sites particularly, there are cores of cylindrical form (chart 3-2). These are principally of obsidian.

Obsidian blades are also common. T h e core and blade industry disappears from the eastern United States at the end of the Hopewellian Phase, about A.D. 300.

Summary

The late Paleolithic-Mesolithic technique of striking long parallel-sided blades from prepared cores ap- parently was introduced into both North and South America on a Paleo-Indian time level, but was quickly abandoned everywhere except in highland Mexico.

Here it continued until Formative times and had a secondary diffusion into northern South America.

It continued into later phases on the Ecuadorian coast. T h e secondary diffusion into North America passed through the Lower Mississippi Valley between

1200 and 400 B . C to become an element of the Hope- well culture, and as such, spread to a large part of the eastern United States between 200 B.C. and A.D. 300.

It disappeared from the eastern United States after the decline of Hopewell.

Reamers

C H A R T 3

Beginning at the middle of Period A of the Valdivia Phase and extending into the Machalilla Phase on coastal Ecuador, Meggers, Evans, and Estrada (1965, p . 29, figs. 14, 69, pi. 20) found a number of reamers made of fine-grain sandstone and coquina (chart 3 - 34). These are described as about 5 cm. long, with a crudely shaped circular or oval handle with flattened sides. T h e working end is always circular in section, tapered toward the tip, and shows the effects of rotary use.

O n e use of these tools is clearly apparent at Valdivia.

They were obviously used to manufacture the C- shaped shell fishhooks characteristic of early Pacific coast occupations from Chile to central California.

Various stages in fishhook manufacture are shown by the authors (op. cit., fig. 19). A shell disk a b o u t 3 cm.

in diameter was first roughed out and a small hole drilled in the center. This hole was then enlarged by

rotary use of the reamers. T h e outer edge was smoothed off in a somewhat less accurate curve until the fishhooks assumed their final form.

At Tlatilco, Lorenzo (1965, pp. 34-35, fig. 40) found among the offerings of various burials eight reamers made of sandstone, basalt, obsidian, and flint (chcirt 3-18). T h e evidence of rotary motion indicated their use for the enlarging of small drilled holes.

Nine reamers have been found at the Poverty Point site in the Lower Mississippi Valley (chart 3-9). These are all made of sandstone, have roughly shaped handles enlarged at one end, and a tapered point showing rotary wear at the other. As no bone or shell is preserved at this locality due to the acid soil, whether or not fishhooks were manufa^ctured must remain in doubt; however, the utility of these tools for enlarging drilled holes in stone objects is obvious.

The distribution of stone reamers is rather spotty, but it may be significant that they appear to be con- fined to the early part of the Formative. So far as is known, this apparendy useful tool was not employed after 500 B . C

Axes and Celts

CHART 4

In the Americas, three general classes of ground stone tools were provided with handles and used for wood- working. Earliest in North America seems to be the adze group, tools that have the blade hafted at right angles to the handle. These are both chipped and ground, and include the curved blade gouges that are an element of the Late Archaic in the New England and Great Lakes areas. Adzes are a characteristic of the Old Copper culture of Wisconsin, where they were made of both copper and stone, and date back to perhaps 3000 B.C. T h e ground stone adze has a re- spectable antiquity in Arctic sequences and along the Northwestcoast.De Laguna (1947, p p . 154-162) has argued convincingly that this is a circumpolar culture element. Although the adze reached the Gulf coast of North America in the Poverty Point Phase, it does not seem to have diffused very strongly to the south.

The second group of woodworking tools is repre- sented by full grooved and three-quarter grooved axes. The third group contains the ungrooved celts. In South America there is a special form, the T-shaped axe. Perforated axes are quite late in the Andean region and will not be considered here.

Grooved Stone Axes

Crudely chipped stone axes are a fairly common ele- ment of the Late Archaic in the eastern United States (chart 4-19). These have a constriction about the middle for the attachment of a handle; this is some-

times polished, possibly representing a stage toward the development of the full ground axes. In North Carolina, J . L. Coe (1964, p. 113, fig. 110) places these in the Guilford complex, which is assigned a date of about 4000 B . C Byers (1959, p. 239) in discussing the Adantic coast of North America states that "Early horizons of this postulated coastal Archaic are char- acterized by choppers; grooved axes which in the earliest forms are chipped but not polished; . . ." In the Midwest they apparendy last until the Fourche Maline Phase (Griffin, ed., 1952, fig. 131k).

Fully grooved ground stone axes are recognized as a persistent element of the Late Archaic in eastern North America, but the precise date of their appear- ance has not been determined to the satisfaction of all of the investigators. At the Modoc Rock Shelter in southern Illinois, Fowler (1959a, p . 36) found a polished stone axe in a context that suggests an age of about 5000 B . C (chart 4-13). Griffin (1964, p. 231) indicates that grooved axes were in the New England area by 2300 B . C They were well established on the coast of Georgia by the time of the introduction of ceramics at about 2400 B . C , and are an element of the preceramic of the Late Archaic Indian Knoll culture of Kentucky. Griffin (1952b, p. 356) suggests that at the end of the Archaic three-quarter grooved axes have begun to replace the fully grooved. This question is reviewed by Wauchope (1966, pp. 176-179), who illustrates a number of examples.

Ground stone axes lasted in the eastern United States until the centuries immediately preceding the beginning of the present era, when they were replaced by the celt. While celts predominated in the Poverty Point Phase of Louisiana (110 examples), grooved stone axes were also in use, as is shown by the finding of four specimens (chart 4—30).

These axes do not seem to be an element of the earlier Desert culture of the southwestern United States, but at about the dme they disappear in the East, three-quarter grooved axes appear in the Pioneer stage of Hohokam, and run through the sequence

(Gladwin, et al., 1937, fig. 44). This same type of axe is also an element of the Anasazi culture. In this region the celt form was never used.

There is no evidence in the Arctic regions to indicate that this element was introduced from Asia by way of the Bering Strait. T h e typical Arctic woodworking tool is the adze.

In the Valley of Mexico, two completely grooved stone axes were found in the Tlatilco Cemetery excavations (chart 4-37; Lorenzo, 1965, p. 25, fig. 16).

They should date somewhere between 1200 and 400 B.C. Celts, however, were much more numerous in these deposits. There was a single example of an adze.

50 SMITHSONIAN C O N T R I B U T I O N S T O A N T H R O P O L O G Y VOLUME 1 1

M . D. Coe (1961, p. 107, fig. 42c) describes a fragment of a grooved axe from the Conchas ii deposits (600-300 B . C ) at La Victoria, Guatemala (chart 4—42). In his discussion, he cites A. V. Kidder's (1943) survey of grooved axes from Mexico to Nic- aragua. T h e three-quarter grooved axe of the south- western United States pattern is quite common in northern Mexico. Most of those found, however, from Mexico City southward are fully grooved like the earlier eastern North American Archaic form.

Apparently the only temporally defined examples are those from Tlatilco and La Victoria.

T h e history of grooved ground stone axes in South America is not entirely clear. They are lacking in the early phases along the Pacific coast, which seems to be the diffusion route of many of the Formative traits we are tracing. Gonzalez (1963, pp. 110-111) suggests that they may have spread down the eastern edge of the Andes into northwestern Argentina where, along with pipes, they occur in the Early Ceramic Period

(500 B . C - A . D . 800).

T h a t these items arrived in highland Bolivia, where the T-shaped axe was already established at a fairly early time, is evinced by their occurrence in Classic Tiahuanaco (W. C. Bennett, 1946, p p . 115-116), which dates in the first centuries of this era.

Tello (1960, pp. 306-308, figs. 137-138) found five or more fully grooved axes at Chavin de Huantar.

Their precise date is dubious, however, for they were in water-deposited fill at the east and west ends of Building A, mixed with sherds of Chavin and Recuay styles. Tello thinks they were swept down from the building platform. If they are associated with Recuay ceramics, they date near the beginning of the present era.

Finds of grooved axes in lowland Bolivia by W. C.

Bennett (1936, pp. 373, 385) seem to be in Incaic contexts, and a similar late date is obtained for grooved stone axes found near Huamachuco, northern highlands of Peru (McCown, 1945, p. 303, pi. 160).

Estrada (1958, fig. 54, 4-5) illustrates three-quarter grooved axes as elements of the Milagro Phase (A.D.

500-1500) in the Guayas Basin of Ecuador (chart 4 , 4 7 - 4 8 ) .

T-shaped Stone Axes

Stone axes with projecting ears to assist in lashing to the handle are an Andean trait that apparently never diffused north of P a n a m a . Earliest examples of this form come from the Valdivia Phase deposits in coastal Ecuador (chart 4 - 5 4 ; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 28-29, fig. 18, pi. 19q-r).

They were made of gray-black diorite, pecked and polished.

Engel (1958, pp. 35, 37) in a survey of preceramic sites on the coast of Peru says that hatchets and axes with handles are lacking. Crude hand axes were found by Bird (1948) at H u a c a Prieta in Chicama and also occur on the south coast. Brown (1926) describes earred stone axes in an apparent pre- ceramic context from near the Ecuadorian border.

As fragments of stone bowls accompanied them, however, this may be of a later preceramic date, possibly after 3000 B . C

T h e T-shaped stone axe has not been reported from the Chorrera Phase, but Estrada (1962, fig. 98) illustrates a large possibly ceremonial axe of this shape from the Bahia Phase (500 B . C - A . D . 500), on the north coast (chart 4—49).

At Kotosh in highland Peru, Izumi and Sono (1963, p. 147, pis. 104-105a-b) say "this lithic tool is almost absent before the Sajara-patac Period" (chart 4-58).

T h e T-shaped axes illustrated by Tello (1960, pp. 306-308, figs. 138b, 139a-c) from Chavin have the same dubious provenience as has been described for the grooved axes; they came from water-deposited fill with Chavin and Recuay ceramics. T h e Recuay date would correlate better with the dating of these tools at Kotosh.

W. C. Bennett (1946, p . 114) found a T-shaped axe in the early levels of his stratigraphic excavations at Tiahuanaco in Bolivia (ca. A.D. 1). T-shaped and grooved axes continue on through the Classic Tia- huanaco, and the T-shaped axe, m a d e of bronze as well as stone, became a characteristic tool of the Inca.

Strangely enough this tool is entirely missing from early phases on the Peruvian coast.

Lathrap (1958, p . 385) found T-shaped axes in all phases of the Yarinacocha sequence on the Ucayali River at the eastern foot of the Andes. T h e date of the earliest phase. Early Tutishcainyo, is uncertain.

T h e history of the T-shaped axe in Colombia is not clear. Duque (1964, p . 395, fig. 27-80) illustrates examples along with celt-shaped axes from tombs in San Agustin. H e states that axes in general pertain to the late period, Mesitas Superior, which is given an approximate date of after A.D. 800 or 900. T- shaped stone axes appear in tomb collections from Narifio, where they accompany negative painted pottery (W. C. Bennett, 1944b, p . 53). These axes also occur in collections from tombs in the Quimbaya region of the Lower Cauca (op. cit., p. 76). They probably date somewhere between A.D. 500 and 1000.

Rectangular and Petaloid Celts

Celts, or ungrooved polished stone axes, are not found in the preceramic levels in either North or South America. These tools can usefully be divided

51 into two classes, one of which tends to be rectangular

in oudine with almost parallel sides, slighdy curved bit, and squared-off poll. The other, usually called a petaloid celt, has a rounded blade, generally a fat oval cross-section, and a tapered poll.

The rectangular celt, like the grooved and T-shaped stone axe, is usually made of fine-grain gray or black diorite or other tough metamorphic stone. The earliest examples come from the Valdivia Phase of Ecuador (chart 4 - 5 5 ; Meggers, Evans, and Estrada, 1965, pp. 28-29, pi. 19o-p). These are small blades, much smaller than are usual for this category, and it is possible that they were hafted in an der or bone socket pieces.

Estrada (1958, fig. 54) illustrates larger rectangular axes chipped and incompletely polished, that run through the Late Formative and the Regional De- velopmental Periods (chart 4, 52-53). These are thin rectangles in section, and some of the blades are asymmetrically sharpened suggesting that they may have been hafted as adzes. Estrada (1962, fig. 97) also illustrates rectangular hatchets with carved human features (chart 4-51) from the Bahia culture (500 B . C - A . D . 500) in Manabi on the north coast of Ecuador. These are reminiscent of the anthropomor- phic celts of the Olmec sites on the Gulf coast of Mexico.

One similar celt, rectangular in section, polished, and with a sharp edge, came from the Chavin Period deposits at Kotosh (chart 4-59; Izumi and Sono,

1963, pis. 106c-2, 166-12). Celts in general are extremely rare at Kotosh, and this example conforms more closely to the Chorrera style of Ecuador than it does to the rectangular celts with thick oval cross- section. Polished stone celts are conspicuously absent on coastal Peru.

The earliest celts in the north coast of Colombia sequence are in the Momil i and ii Phases (700-1 B . C ; chart 4, 4 5 ^ 6 ) . These are of rectangular form with slighdy curved blade and squared-off head. In cross- section, they are oval and fairly thick. This is the typical cross-section of Mesoamerican celts, in con- trast to the thin rectangular section of the hatchets from Ecuador and Peru (Reichel-Dolmatoff, G. and A., 1956, pis. 26-11, 27, 8-9). Similar celts with squared polls come from the middle and late phase tombs of San Agustin, after A.D. 500 (chart 4 ^ 4 ; Duque, 1964, p. 395, drawing 27, 75-78). A single celt of petaloid form (chart 4 ^ 3 ) is illustrated in Duque (op. cit., fig. 74). A single rectangular celt came from Phase iii in the Cupica Burial Mound (Reichel- Dolmatoff, G. and A., 1962, pi. 17-1). This accom- panied Burial No. 5 and dates after A.D. 600.

W. C. Bennett (1944b, p. 76) describes polished celts as occurring in the collections of the Quimbaya

area. The shape of these tools is uncertain, for no illustrations are given. Trapezoidal celts, but with a rectangular section, are listed from most of the late sites that the Reichel-Dolmatoffs (1955, p. 241) examined in the Santa Marta region.

Ground celts were not found in the Monagrillo Phase of Panama. Willey and McGimsey (1954, p. 85, figs. 20a-b, 50m-o, r) illustrate very crude, generally rectangular examples made of fine-grained gray and black colored stone, which come from the Alvina and later phases. This seems to date approximately coeval with the Sitio Conte Phase after A.D. 500 (Ladd, 1964, pp. 201-202, pi. 18a-f).

On the Pacific coast of Guatemala, polished celts are lacking from the Ocos Phase, but do occur in Conchas i and ii (chart 4 - ^ 1 ; M. D. Coe, 1961, pp.

106-107, fig. 60q). These are made of greenish black stone, are oval in cross-section and are quite small, measuring about 3 cm. across the blade. As the polls are missing, it is uncertain as to whether they should be classified as rectangular or petaloid.

MacNeish and Peterson (1962, p. 28, pi. 5Ba) found a very small celt made of a hard volcanic stone in level 1 from the Santa Marta Rock Shelter. This zone has a radiocarbon date of about A.D. 90. Minia- ture celts, as well as the bit fragment of a medium- sized greenstone celt, were found by Sanders in the Chiapilla Phase (Chiapa iv-v, 450-100 B . C ; chart 4-4-0; Sanders, 1961, p. 43, pi. l l B r - u ) .

Although functional celts have not been reported before 800 B . C in the Chiapas sequence, Lowe has given the information verbally that poorly smoothed celts are found in caches in Chiapa ii (800-550 B . C ) . The placing of celts in caches is a feature of Olmec sites of the Mexican Gulf coast, as will be discussed later.

MacNeish provides the information that the small cutting tools that run from the beginning of the Ajalpan Phase (1500 B.C.) to the end of Santa Maria (200 B.C.) are adzes. Celts with square polls run from 800 B.C. to about 1 B . C (chart 4-39). Petaloid celts with tapered polls date from 200 B . C to A.D. 500 (chart 4-38).

Lorenzo (1965, pp. 24—26, figs. 15-18) describes a single adze with curved cutting edge from the excava- tions at Tlatilco. This is reminiscent of the gouges of the North American Archaic. T h e most popular type of axe is a celt made of fine-grained stone with a thick oval cross-section. The polls seem to be squared off, which places these tools in the rectangular celt category.

Vaillant (1930, p i . 45) illustrates three rectangular celts from the middle levels of Zacatenco (chart 4, 3 5 - 36). One is made of jade, one of jade or serpentine, and the third of diabase. Ticoman celts are shown in