_Flakers._--Two compound flakers, made by securing pieces of ground bone
to short wooden shafts, were found in the collection. In one specimen
(139556) the entire flaker measures 12 cm., and the projecting bone 3.4
cm. (pl. 14, _b_). The other specimen (139557) is 13.1 cm. long, with a
bone piece 5.6 cm. long (pl. 14, _c_). In both specimens the ground
pieces of bone were laid in grooves in the round wooden shafts, and
secured to them with 2-ply Z-twist cordage (see "Haftings" for details).
Both of the wood shafts are incised with lines encircling the handle
area. These lines may have been decorative, or they may have been
intended to supply friction to the grasp.
Flakers of bone have been reported for the northern part of Baja
California (Sales, 1794, I:49) and must have been known to all peoples
on the peninsula despite the absence of direct evidence in the
archaeology and most of the historical sources. They were known
throughout adjacent regions, although usually in the form of simple
antler tines. Specimens identical to those from Bahía de Los Angeles,
except for the use of sinew lashing in place of the cordage, have been
reported from Basketmaker caves in Arizona (Guernsey and Kidder, 1921,
p. 96; fig. 15c).
_Cane whistles._--Two cane, or _carrizo_, whistles were found in the
cave. They are identical in form and mode of construction, but they
differ in decorative details. In both the whistle hole is cut into the
cane at a node, and is reinforced with a black adhesive, possibly
asphaltum.
Around the whistle hole of the longer of the two specimens (139588a; pl.
15, _h_) are five pits which have been burned in; two are at one end of
the hole, three at the other. As added decoration a series of incisions
encircles the shaft of the whistle, some of which, at the mouth end, are
joined by pairs of cut lines. All of these incisions are blackened,
either by carbon or through handling.
The shorter whistle (139588b; pl. 15, _g_) has no burned pits at the
hole, but the encircling incisions, minus the connecting lines, are
present. At the end of the whistle opposite the mouth is the remnant of
a hole in which there is a fragment of knotted cordage.
No other whistles have been recorded for the archaeology of the
peninsula. Spanish documentary sources are unrefined in the
differentiation of flutes and whistles; either or both were known to the
historic tribes of Baja California. Use was restricted to ceremonial
occasions in all recorded instances.
Directly to the north of Bahía de Los Angeles, in the 18th century,
shamans used whistles in ceremonies performed several days after a death
(Sales, 1794, I:79), just as the modern Kiliwa use a reed flute at the
_ñiwey_ ceremony (Meigs, 1939, p. 45). In neighboring southern
California, the use of flutes was nearly universal, while whistles
were used infrequently (Drucker, 1937, p. 25).
_Bull-roarer_ (?).--One highly polished wooden artifact (139565) may
have been used as a bull-roarer. This artifact, with a length of 23.5
cm., a diameter of 5.1 cm., and a thickness of 6 mm. (pl. 15, _i_), is
made of a very hard dark wood--probably ironwood, _Olneva_ _tesota_. It
is concave on both faces. At each end, and at a right angle to the main
axis of the specimen, is a groove filled with a hardened black substance
inlaid with fragments of _Olivella_ shell (_O_. _biplicata_). The hole
at one end is biconically drilled. This artifact has been tentatively
called a "bull-roarer" because no other purpose can be conjectured. It
is too large for a net-gauge, which it somewhat resembles because of its
concave ends.
There is no mention of bull-roarers in the Spanish sources for the
peninsula; however, one archaeological specimen has been recovered from
the surface of a cave in the San Julio Basin, to the east of Comondú.
This wooden bull-roarer has a conventional shape; it is a long
oval-shaped piece of hardwood which is double-convex or lenticular in
cross section and has a length of 21.5 cm.[2]
[2] This specimen (3-10308) is in the University of California Robert H.
Lowie Museum of Anthropology, Berkeley. Location is from field notes,
Massey, 1946.
The use of bull-roarers for ceremonial purposes was nearly universal in
southern California (Drucker, 1937, p. 25). They have also been reported
for the Kiliwa of northern Baja California, where they were used by
shamans in the _ñiwey_ ceremony, and for placating ghosts by anyone in
an emergency (Meigs, 1939, p. 45).
_Projectiles._--A single compound arrow (139587) or dart is in the
Palmer Collection. Although it is broken, there can be no doubt that the
two pieces of cane shaft form a single piece, 92.5 cm. in length (pl.
15, _a_). There is no foreshaft. The sting-ray spine, which makes an
excellent natural projectile point, was let directly into the split end
of the cane, and was secured by cord binding (see "Haftings"). Instead
of the usual nock in the butt end of the shaft for a bowstring, there is
a cuplike depression (fig. 1). This suggests, of course, that this may
have been a dart for use with a thrower or atlatl. Although that weapon
is unreported in the Spanish sources on central and northern Baja
California, dart-throwers were reported by Spanish explorers for the
first quarter of the 17th century for the southern Cape Region; they are
also known archaeologically from the same area (Massey, 1957, pp.
55-62).
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Detail of arrow or dart (139587), showing
sting-ray spine point and cuplike depression at butt end.]
One smoothed wooden specimen (139560) appears to have been a foreshaft.
It is sharply pointed at one end, and has a cuplike depression in the
opposite, thicker end. It is straight and tapered, with a length of 38
cm. (pl. 15, _f_). Similar specimens are common in historic levels of
caves in the Sierra de La Giganta (Massey and Tuohy, MS).
_Viznaga spines._--A bundle of seven spines of the _Viznaga_ cactus
(_Echinocactus_ _wislizeni_) was found (139547; pl. 14, _a_). These
spines had all been straightened from their natural curved condition.
They could have served a variety of piercing purposes.
_Miscellaneous wooden artifacts._--In addition to the artifacts of
vegetable origin that can be identified with certainty, there are
several fragments and whole specimens which remain to be considered.
There is a round straight piece of wood (139559), measuring 30.5 cm. in
length and 8 mm. in diameter, which has both ends blunted and rounded,
apparently from use in grinding and pounding (pl. 15, _e_). Its exact
use is unknown.
Two sticks, lashed together in two places, were found (139585a).
Together they measure 50 cm. in length (pl. 15, _c_). The longer pointed
stick has a notched end as for an arrow butt (see "Haftings" for details
of the tying).
There is also a round, sharply pointed, and tapered fragment of hardwood
with a length of 8.8 cm. The shape suggests that it may have been part
of a digging stick; however, the specimen is very highly polished on all
of its preserved surfaces.
Two wooden fragments (139586) are listed in the catalogue of the United
States National Museum as parts of a bow. Actually there is little about
their shape to suggest such a use (pl. 15, _b_). Both are round in cross
section, and they do not fit together. One piece (139586a), which is 58
cm. in length, is slightly curved, with a knob carved on the complete
end. There are faint indications that there had previously been
wrappings at this end. The other specimen (139586b), with a length of
56.5 cm. and a diameter of 1.3 cm., is fragmental at both ends. It has
two places in which the shaft has been carved around. Incised diagonal
lines mark the surface in several places.