Agnes Bierman

“ Probably most significant of this season’s work was the partial excavation of LAn-2 located on the same ridge and about 350 yards below the Tank Site. Through our efforts here we were able to confirm the suspected stratigraphy in the Tank Site and, at least partly, define Phase II of the Topanga Culture. Of greatest contrast is the appearance of flexed burials and the exclusive occurrence of light projectile points. Although core and flake tools are still present, a definite shift occurs in the material from which they are made and the tools themselves do not dominate the cultural inventory. ”

“ Probably most of our scraper planes might be considered potential hammerstones. This being the case, the scraper plane may be just a “myth artifact” growing out of the literature and typologies rather than being an existing reality. This does not imply that all so-called core and flake tools or even some scraper planes should be considered in the same light. It merely points up the fact that Western terminology and typology might be reëxamined. ”

“ Artifacts of apparent nonutilitarian usage leave us with the convenient, but not to satisfactory, classification of “ceremonial.” It is only through inference that we can assume functional use in ceremonies of such objects as cog stones and a variety of stone disks. Since the spindle-shaped charm stone and the stone cogs and disks appear to be nearly mutually exclusive of one another in their distribution between central and southern California, it is not improbable that the latter constitute the “charm-stones” of the south. ”

“ Earlier the Topanga Culture as depicted by the Tank Site has been characterized as largely constituting a seed-gathering economy. This characterization rests upon the presence of a large number of manos and metates as opposed to the decided rarity of projectile points and the near absence of mammal bone in the site deposit. Some what of a problem is the high ratio of core and flake tools. In American archaeology it has been popular to assume that flaked lithic assemblages automatically imply a hunting and skin-dressing economy. ”

“ It is both interesting and a problematical that here at Topanga we find in a single cultural complex an almost complete record of all the recognized cultural elements typifying early man in southern California. ”

“ Habitual thinking has perhaps contributed to the general idea that a lithic assemblage of core tools characterized by percussion flaking has come to represent both antiquity and a hunting- or skin-dressing economy. ”

“ Since the Tank Site showed promise of being an unusual and important deposit, considerable care was observed during both seasons of excavation to isolate and expose any concentration of lithic remains which appeared to be in any way atypical of the average mound matrix. As a result, numerous associations of stones, such as mano caches, highly weathered inverted metates, and massive piles of rejected cores, broken manos and metates, and plain cobbles, were set apart from the rest of the site and given the term “feature.” ”

“ To account for the large number of “core tools” in the Tank Site, especially scraper planes, choppers, and core hammerstones, it is suggested these tools are actually crude implements used in the manufacture and maintainence of more refined implements directly associated with the mass production of the food economy, that is, the milling stones known as the mano and metate. The function of these primitive mills is to grind, necessitating a rough contact between the surface of the mano and the metate. ”

“ The site extends from the ridge where the house is located into the knoll west of the orchard, covering an area of 400 by 300 feet to a depth of at least 30 inches. Artifacts are plentiful on the ploughed and cultivated surface, and the highly indurated mound soil is dark and clayey. Where the deposit has been cut by recent developments, little worked stone is found in the banks; and a 5-foot square pit netted only one fragment of a ground slate pendant, though the deposit extended below the 30 inches to which the excavation proceeded. ”

“ Why Topanga should have more core tools than other reported sites may also have an answer. Some early archaeologists failed to recognize core tools and naturally did not collect them. Sites immediate to the coast generally have a split marine-land economy, and though the metate and mano are present, the core tools used for purposes of pitting such artifacts are distributed more widely in a mound mass charged with shell refuse. ”

“ Curiously enough, none of the scraper planes, regardless of finish, shows any degree of wear of battering on the presumed working edge or polishing on the under surface as would be expected to occur with use. This is true of similar artifacts from the San Dieguito, La Jolla, and Lake Mohave cultures. Possibly as a fleshing tool no such wear would result, but evidence of skin dressing is lacking with so little mammal bone occuring in the site. A wood-working or plant-fiber economy likewise would hardly necessitate any great quantity or variety of tools. ”

“ Material out of which cog stones have been made is of some interest. The Tank Site specimens range through volcanic tuff, siliceous sinter, escoriated basalt, to a fine-grained basalt. From other areas the same materials are present plus sandstone, granite, and granodiorite. Steatite, one of the most easily worked stones, appears to be absent. Obviously the hardness and type of stone were of little importance. The appearance of the finished product likewise varied. Some specimens are a product of perfection, others of the roughest sort. ”

“ Hammerstones occur as subangular nodules with battered blunt edges; manos, when they are worn too thin, usually break in the process of pitting, and the metate in time wears through or the bottom gets knocked out resulting in a “killed” artifact. What has earlier been referred to by many authors as the “ceremonial killing” of an artifact might also be viewed as the end product of function.
It is noted that Phase II site LAn-2 shows a sudden decline in core tools accompanied by a decline in manos and metates. ”

“ The compact nature of the soil and the heavy artifact yield retarded clearing. Nevertheless, some 5,000 cubic feet of mound earth was removed which bore an artifact content of one finished implement to every 1.5 cubic feet.
Within the limitations imposed by archaeological conditions, the excavation made possible certain inferences regarding the over-all pattern and associated complexes derived from an open site typified by crude percussion-flaked core tools and basic milling implements. The chipped stone has been compared to that described for the San Dieguito and Lake Mohave cultures. ”

“ It is only when one or both of these elements characterize or dominate a site, such as in LAn-1, that they have diagnostic or comparative value in so far as the Topanga Culture is concerned.
Cog stones, discoidals, and crescentic stones, or “amulets,” are unique types of artifacts, and when found in the right association with other artifacts may prove to be valuable horizon indicators. Cog stones and discoidals occur most commonly along the interior margin of the southern California littoral, and, where documented, the mano and metate are also present. ”

“ This is particularly true of metate-producing sites around Santa Barbara. The Tank Site is adjacent to a massive basalt outcrop from which angular core tools were manufactured. Thus, quarry refuse, and immediate lithic supply, and an economy demanding a great many pecking tools, plus erosional factors that might have concentrated artifacts in the course of time, can in part help explain the great quantity of core tools found at Topanga. ”

“ Certain elements in the Topanga Culture might be viewed as “index artifacts” when they occur as associates. To have comparative value it is the combination of traits which create the cultural pattern and not the isolates. Phase I is characterized by a combination of extended burial with the head south, reburial of long bones under metate, fractional burial, percussion-flaked projectile points and blades, dominance of flake and core tools, dominance of milling stones with wide variation in the hand stone (mano) , crescentic stones, stone cogs, and stone discoidals. ”

“ If battering continues, the final result is an angular nodule whose irregular, worn margins mark the former presence of sharp bifacial flake edges. A well-worn core hammerstone is also a worn-out specimen, at least in the light of its original function.
Of the 1,478 specimens from the Tank Site it is our opinion that their resultant form is derived through means of their own function—that of pecking. That such an implement was much in demand is evidenced by the pecked surfaces of numerous grinding tools. ”

“ Most show considerable wear and good shoulder development, display pecking on their grinding surfaces, and all but 2 granitic specimens are of sandstone. A single monofacial chopper of basalt is well battered along its edge. Out of 7 single-edged planes, 2 have been secondarily worked and used as choppers on an edge other than that developed on the periphery of the plane, and 6 are basalt and 1 is quartzite. One small, flat scraper has two localized adjacent concavities struck from its margin and is also of basalt. Of the 3 core hammerstones, 2 are basalt and 1 is quartzite. ”

“ Peck notes burial markers as: “stone platforms, red ocher abundant, and flint tools.” Large aggregates of stone were common in the Tank Site and are termed features, being composed of large quantities of boulders, whole and broken artifacts, and frequently a segment of human long bone (fig. 1) . Frequently one or more metates occurred with burials. Red ocher was abundant in small granules throughout the site and appeared more frequently in the burial areas, but not to the extent as to class an interment as being a red-ocher burial in the traditional meaning or even as a burial marker. ”

“ Tools from the surface included general core tools, manos, and metates. A basin metate had been reported; and a fragment of one, of sandstone and shaped on its outer surface, was found. Of 9 manos and mano fragments, 5 are bifacial and relatively thin and 4, monofacial. All but 2 of the monofacial artifacts are sandstone, these being of a granitic rock. In cross section the majority of grinding surfaces are unusually convex, especially as they reach the edge and roll partly up the side. A single basalt pestle fragment was obtained. ”

“ We doubt seriously if hammerstones of this type were manufactured as such, but rather we assume any suitable core, rejected scraper plane, or chopper could have served as a starting point, and an over-all examination of our specimens supports such a thesis.
Emergent is the correlation of core hammerstones and the presence of manos and metates. Noteably both these grinding elements are rare in the coastal San Dieguito and in the Lake Mohave area but do occur among the Shoshonean and Yuman groups who occupied the areas corresponding to these ancient lithic cultures. ”

“ The upper half is separated from the lower by a 4-foot sandstone face that divides the site midway between the bank and its upper extremity. In all, an area of 50 feet by 75 feet is covered with dark, friable, sandy midden deposit to an undetermined depth, which contrasts with the surrounding light, brown-colored sand. Surface finds included only some scrapers, and a quartz core hammerstone, along with a few cores and more concentrated chert flakes; by far in the majority were head-fractured, carbonized rock fragments. ”

“ The ratio of manos to metates is quite different here than at the Tank Site. Here the ratio is 1.5 metates to 1 mano. Little explanation can be offered to this reverse trend other than it represents a breakdown of an older pattern as a result of a shift toward the mortar-pestle complex.
Mortars
The evidence for mortars rests upon two incomplete specimens. A single rim fragment, composed of a fairly course sandstone, resembles the Tank Site specimen, but having a somewhat larger diameter (about 10 inches) . The second specimen is too fragmentary to allow any reconstruction of size. ”

“ The 4 side scrapers are thin flakes, 2 of basalt, 2 of chert. The 3 choppers are of basalt, 1 having served additional use as a hammerstone, and the 4 hammerstones are basalt cores. Patination is noticeable on all, and smoothed flake scars are not uncommon.
LAn-13.—Six bedrock mortars were found here in a sandstone outcrop of the south bank of the creek, 200 feet upstream from the Kiewit Ranch. As the area is covered by a relatively dense oak grove, the fact that no artifacts were found on the surface in the vicinity may be due in part to the thick fall of dead leaves. ”

“ The spring water is potable and affords the nearest available water source. Over an area of 100 by 75 feet, surrounding the basalt outcrop, the sandy soil is somewhat darker. Whether this is owing to the decomposition of organic refuse strewn about a habitation site or merely to rock weathering, or in part to both, was indeterminable. The only evidence of former activity are several percussion bulbs and a number of specimens displaying a small amount of regular chipping, which suggest crude scrapers. ”

“ In general appearance and degree of patination the artifacts from this site show marked resemblance to those from San Fernando, LAn-6, just over the divide.
Four-tenths of a mile to the south, .2 of a mile southwest of the home of M. Biencourt, an isolated chopper was picked from the surface of a spur ridge leading to Garrapata Creek. It is a large bifacial tool, battered on the slightly fashioned working edge, of basalt and patinated. No further indication of aboriginal habitation could be discovered in the near vicinity. ”

“ Recently a cultural chronology has been suggested for southern California coastal archaeology (Wallace, 1955, p. 227, table 3) . Earlier a similar chronology was constructed (Treganza, 1950, table 8) which lacked recent data but was more comprehensive and included possible cross-cultural ties with the desert cultures of the southwestern part of the Great Basin. ”

“ Lengths range from 2.5 cm. to 4.1 cm. Materials used are obsidian, basalt, chert, and quartz.
Large Blades and Large Points
The large blades and points collected this season show some variation over those of last year, both in finishing technique, form, and material. Frequently, for lack of established terminology, it is difficult to distinguish between what might be termed a chipped knife, leaf-shaped blade, or a coarsely made projectile point. We attempt only a rough breakdown between blades and large points, either of which if hafted could serve the purpose of a knife. ”

“ Additional excavation was necessary to verify the possible stratigraphy noted and to fill out the burial data and certify the typology established on the basis of the finds to date. Moreover, the Tank Site had demonstrated itself to be a deposit of unusual interest and importance; whatever added knowledge could be gained from it would be valuable. (2) LAn-2, just west of the Tank Site, required more intensive examination. ”