IV. A MESCAL KNIFE FROM NEAR OVERTON, MOAPA VALLEY, SOUTHERN NEVADA
Robert F. Heizer
In December, 1969, my son Michael found imbedded in a ratnest in a
low horizontal crevice on property owned by him about 5 miles northeast of
Overton, Clark County, Nevada, an unusual mescal knife.     The low crevice
was apparently not occupied, and the knife was probably cached there by
some Indian within the past century with the aim of later recovery and use.
The knife is described here and notes on ethnographic usage and other arch-
aeological examples are provided.
The handle of the knife (Fig. la) is a section of mesquite wood branch
24 cm. long and 3.5 cm. in diameter. The ends, somewhat rounded, are rough
and the wood appears to have been cut with a rough chopping tool such as a
stone cleaver or ax.   Nothing which can be interpreted as cutting marks of a
steel knife or ax are in evidence. The unusual feature of this mescal knife
is in its having one stone and one iron cutting blade, both of which are set
in line with the run of the handle opposite each other. The stone blade, of
mottled yellow-brown flint, is set in an oval socket filled with dark brown
pitch. The socket is 6.0 cm. long and 3.0 cm. wide. The exposed blade is
4.0 cm. wide, 2.3 cm. long, and 1.0 cm. thick in the center. The cutting
edge is sharp and unabraded.
Opposite the stone blade is a metal one, similarly socketed, and held
by a pitch mastic which is somewhat lighter in color, and fills the socket
more evenly than the pitch holding the stone blade. The iron blade is 3.5 cm.
wide, 2.0 cm. long, and 4 mm. thick.    All three visible edges are ground down
to a sharp edge, the only difference being that the forward edge is slightly
convex and the side edges are straight. One has the distinct impression that
the iron blade has been set in the handle at a later time than the stone
blade. It is possible that originally the tool had two flint blades and
that one was replaced by the blade of iron.
Other archaeological mescal knives are on record for the Overton area.
Harrington (1942) describes a double bladed knife (Fig. lb) found near Logan-
dale which lies a couple of miles north of Overton in the Moapa Valley. This
specimen, except for having both cutting blades of flint and roughly cut grooves
around the shaft at each end, is practically a duplicate of the specimen pre-
sented here.  Nothing is known of its occurrence, but the fact that it bears
two stone blades encourages one to think of it as dating from pre-contact
times. Harrington (1930:120-121) recovered a complete mescal knife from
Paiute Cave, about 1.5 miles south of Overton. The simple wooden handle has
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an iron blade seated in pitch (Fig. ic). Harrington believes-trie specimen
to be of Paiute manufacture. Another mescal knife (Fig. ld) with an iron
blade found in a rockshelter 3.5 miles southeast of the former town of St.
Thomas, Clark County, is described and illustrated by Baldwin (1944). A
second and similar specimen from a nearby shelter is described but not
illustrated by Baldwin (op.cit). Both of these knives are associated with
identifiable artifacts of Paiute manufacture.
Other archaeological examples have been recovered from northwestern
Arizona, not far to the southwest and across the Colorado River from the
Overton area. Fewkes (1898:571) illustrates a complete mescal knife (Fig.le)
with a single ground stone cutting blade which he recovered from a depth of
3.0 feet in a room at the Pueblo site of Honanki on Lower Oak Creek, south
of Flagstaff. It is undated, but Fewkes believes the site to have been
abandoned before the beginning of the historic period. I am indebted to
G. Metcalf, Supervisor, Processing Laboratory, Department of Anthropology,
USNM, for providing me with details on this specimen. Bartlett (1934:18-19)
describes and illustrates a complete mescal knife from Medicine Cave (site
N.A. 863) with a single flint blade (Fig. If). Like the Logandale knife
(Fig. lb) it bears an encircling groove near each end. Bartlett is uncertain
of the age of the Medicine Cave specimen, but believes that it is either of
Pueblo II or Yavapai manufacture.
Other mescal knives are reported to have been found near Alpine,
Brewster County, Texas (Bartlett 1934:19; Harrington 1930:121). The only
published Texas example seems to be the specimen illustrated by Martin
(1939:80, P1. XXXIII) which has a flaked flint blade set in an excavated
socket and held with juagilla gum (Fig. lg). The blade is reinforced by
two parallel-laid twigs which are bound to the handle. This piece was
recovered from Shumla Cave, Val Verde County, Texas. Two unusual examples
of what may be a double-bladed mescal knife from Carved Rock Shelter,
Sunny Glen Canyon, near Alpine, Texas collected by Victor J. Smith are
described and illustrated by Sayles (1941:Pl.29, Fig. 2). A section of oak
limb 31.5 cm. has a longitudinal slot cut through it from both sides and
into this is inserted a round-based chert blade which is held in place by
wedges of yucca stalk (Fig. lh). This is the only known double-bladed mescal
knife reported from Texas. The circumstances of their occurrence suggest
that they are fairly recent.
The presently known archaeological distribution of this distinctive
form of mescal knife thus ranges from Brewster and Val Verde Counties, Texas
in the south to the Moapa Valley in southern Nevada in the north. Some
examples may be prehistoric, as judged from their bearing stone cutting
blades; others are clearly of historic manufacture, and are attributed with
some probability to Southern Paiute manufacture. A number of tribes (South-
ern Paiute, Yavapai, Maricopa, Mohave) are reported to have used this form
of mescal knife, but we are quite uncertain how ancient the form is since
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the archaeological examples are undated.
The wide natural distribution of "mescal", a term used in a general
way for a large number of species of century plant, Agave, which grow from
1000 to 5000 feet above sea level in the Sonoran and Transitional life zones
(for distribution of species see Castetter, Bell and Grove 1938:13-27), and
its wide recognition by native peoples as a food resource accounts for the
wide occurrence of mescal pits in which the plant was roasted to make it
edible. Castetter, Bell and Grove (1938:Fig. 4) and Greer (1965:Fig. 5)
have mapped the distribution of such pits in the stretch between west Texas
and southern California. Such pits are common in southern Nevada, the area
which has produced a number of mescal knives, (Shutler and Shutler 1962:
22-23), Arizona (Baldwin 1944) and Texas (Greer 1965:Fig. 5; Castetter,
Bell and Grove 1938:Fig. 4).
The mescal plant was cut off at its base with a sharp-edged or
chisel-pointed tool made of hardwood which was pounded with a stone
(Spier 1933:55; Spier 1928:105-106). The thorny-edged leaves were then cut
off with a mescal knife (perhaps better termed "mescal hatchet" by Spier
1933:55) and the remaining crown (also called the "heart" or "cabbage") was
baked. The baking was done in a dug pit in which stones were laid, and on
which a fire was built. The mescal cabbages were then laid in the pit on
the heated stones, covered with a layer of grass, topped with a layer of
earth and allowed to cook (actually steam) for from 24 to 48 hours. This
method of gathering and roasting is widespread in the Southwest, and is
reported for the Maricopa, Havasupai, Jicarilla, Mescalero, White Mountain
and San Carlos Apache, Navajo, Southern Paiute, Pima, Cahuilla and Huichol
(Spier 1928:119; Spier 1933:55-56), the Paipai, Cocopa, Kiliwa, Papago,
Diegueno (Castetter and Bell 1951:202; Henderson 1951; Greer 1965), the
Yavapai (Gifford 1932:206-207), the Walapai (Mekeel 1935:49, 52-53), the
Cochimi, Concho, Jumano, Sonora, Sinaloa, Culiacan and unnamed tribes of
Nuevo Leon, Jalisco and Mexico in Mexico (Beals 1932:164).
The mescal knife or hatchet with a wooden handle and flint blade set
in the center is a form which will be preserved archaeologically only rarely.
How widely such implements were used in prehistoric times can probably be
determined only by identifying the flint blades found in open sites. Kowta
(1969:55) discusses the implemental assemblage used for the collection and
preparation of Agave and this is a first step toward our understanding of
the technological complex associated with the prehistoric utilization of
this important food plant.
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Explanation of Illustrations
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
a.
b.
Mescal knives from Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
For location and description of specimens see text.
Infrared spectra of pitches (KBr pressed plates).
Spectrum of pitch holding iron blade;
spectrum of pitch holding stone blade.
Plate 1.    Mescal knives from Southern Nevada and Texas.
a-c From near Overton, Clark Co., Nevada
a. profile
b. stone blade
c. iron blade
d-e From west Texas (site unknown). Specimen in Sul Ross
College Museum, Alpine, Texas. Mus. No. SR 1058A.
By permission of the Director.
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-34-.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Baldwin, G. C.
1930    Paiute Cave. In Archaeological Explorations in Southern Nevada.
Southwest Museum Papers No. 4, pp. 106-126.
1944   Mescal Knives from Southern Nevada. American Antiquity
9:330-332.
Bartlett, K.
1934
Beals, R. L.
1932
The Material Culture of Pueblo II in the San Francisco
Mountains, Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona, Bulletin 7.
Flagstaff.
The Comparative Ethnology of Northern Mexico Before 1750.
Ibero-Americana No. 2.
Castetter, E. F. and W. H. Bell
1951   Yuman Indian Agriculture. Univ. of New Mexico Press.
Castetter, E. F., W. H. Bell and A. R. Grove.
1938    Ethnobiological Studies in the American Southwest: VI, The
Early Utilization and the Distribution of Agave in the
American Southwest. Univ. of New Mexico Bulletin, Biological
Series, Vol. 5, No. 4.
Fewkes, J. W.
1898    Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895.
Ethnol. Ann. Rept. No. 17, Part 2: 519-744.
Bur. Amer.
Gifford, E. W.
1932    The Southeastern Yavapai. Univ. of Calif. Publs. Amer.
Arch. and Ethnology 29:177-252.
Greer, J. W.
1965    A Typology of Midden Circles and Mescal Pits.  Southwestern
Lore 31:41-55.
Harrington, M. R.
1942   A Rare Mescal Knife. Southwest Museum Masterkey 16:67-68.
Henderson, R.
1951    Mescal Roast. Desert Magazine 14:9.
Kowta, M.
1969    The Sayles Complex. Univ. of Calif. Publi. in Anthropology,
Vol. 6.
McKeel, S.
1935    Plant Foods and Preparation.   Amer. Anthrop. Assn.,
Memoir No. 42:48-57.
Martin, G. C.
1933    Big Bend Basket Maker Papers No. 3.   Witte Memorial Museum
Bulletin 3. San Antonio.
Shutler, R. and M. E. Shutler
1962    Archaeological Survey in Southern Nevada.    Nevada State
Museum Anthropological Papers No. 7.
Sayles, E. B.
1941    Some Texas Cave Dweller Artifacts.   Bulletin of the Texas
Archeological and Paleontological Society 13:163-168.
Smith, V. J.
1938    Carved Rock Shelter.   Bulletin of the Texas Archeological
and Paleontological Society 10:222-233.
Spier, L.
1928    Havasupai Ethnography.   Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Anthrop.
Papers Vol. 29, Part 3, pp. 81-392.
1933    Yuman Tribes of the Colorado River.   University of Chicago
Press.
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APPENDIX 1. Analysis of pitch samples
Fred H. Stross
Two samples of pitch, one from the filling of the excavation holding
the stone blade and the other from the gum holding the iron blade of the
mescal knife shown in Pl.la-c were analyzed by infrared spectroscopy.
The two pitches showed visual differences, that holding the stone
blade being dark brown and that holding the iron blade being lighter and
reddish in tone. The analysis was made to determine if the two gums or
pitches were different or the same.
The samples were ground in KBr and formed into pressed plates for
infrared spectroscopic analysis. The spectra were obtained in the region
of 2 microns to 15 microns with a Beckman Model IR.4 spectrophotometer.
The spectra show the two samples to be identical. Fig. la is the
spectrum for the pitch associated with the iron blade; Fig. lb is the
spectrum of the pitch holding the stone blade. These spectra are quite
similar to those of ancient and modern pitches from Nevada published
earlier , but there are enough small spectra differences to indicate that
the pitch of the mescal knife from near Overton comes from a different
tree. Identification of the source of the pitch could probably be made
by analyzing tree resins from this area of southern Nevada.
A. C. Jones, J. R. Weaver and F. H. Stross.    Note on Indian Wood
Carving in the Form of a Grasshopper Found in Lovelock Cave, Nevada.
Univ. of Calif. Arch. Survey Report No. 70:123-128, 1967.
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