SOUTHERN DIEGUENO USE AND KNOWLED OF LITHIC MATERIALS(1) W. D. Hohenthal, Jr. FOREWORD In northernmost BaJa California today ther8 #re less than two hun- dred Southern Diegueto liv.lng In seventeen rancher?as widely acattered over 3500 ?quare miles of territory,, from the present International Line south as far as La Huerta de los Ind.ios. South of La Huerta there are a few Southern Diegue4iXo families livi.ng at the predominantly Paipai settlements of the ex-Mission Santa Catarina Vlirgen y Mirtir and its nearby ex-mission rancherla of San Miguel. The Southern DiegueIo speak a language belonging to the Yuman lingulstic family and call themselves Tip/i (The People). In these notee they are called Tip4i. It was thought that some data concerning native knowledge and use of lithic materials might be of general interest to both ethnographers and archaeologists. Information of this kind is often lacking in ethno- graphic reports, yet such data are Just as important as, for example, ethnobotanical notes since they represent another part of the TipAi classification of the world in which they live. The basis for the Tipai clas.sitication of lithic material Is largely functional and somewhat subjective. The native artisan sees ln the rocks and clays certain potential or obvious physical properties, the principal ones being ease of fracture, suitability for grinding, texture, plasticity, and color. These factors of recognition reault in a native classification of lithic materials which differs noticeably from our geological classifi- cation, LOCAL SOURCES OF MATERIAL(2) The sierras in Territorio del Norte, as exemplified by the Sierra de JuArez, are largely composed of granite and metamorphic rock which are capped In some localities by lava flows and bedded volcanic.rocks.(3) Much of the volcanic flow consists of a greenish-black basalt which weathers to a chocolate-brown color. This material is commonly found on archaeological sites. Basalt and andesite outcroppings are located at Los Alisos, Table Mountain, Colonia Rusa (Guadalupe Valley), and Punta Colnett. Crystalline rocks compose about three-quarters of the northern area: quartz diorite, granodiorite, schists, and gneisses. The Sierra de JuArez is composed of a granitic core flanked to the east and west sides by ochiste, gnelsses, and slates. The auriferous gravels of this range contain white quartz, dark quartzite, red and grey porphy- ritic lavas, and some schist, all furnishing material for aboriginal tools. White quartz is particularly common in mountain archaeological sites. Porphyry is common in the Pacific coastal plateau extending from San Diego County into northern Baja California, and this material is a characteristio of the coastal sites. A source of red and black chert is Isla San Geronimo, the larger of the two Islas de Todos Santos, lying 9 six kilometers northwest of Punta Banda on the Pacific coast. Sandstones and shales are found at Tijuana and in the foothills of the Sierra de Juarez, and agglomerates, tuffs, and lava may be obtained from Rosarito (south of TiJuana), El Sauzal del Comacho, and Ensenada. San Antonio del Mar is a local source of linDstones. In addition to these local materials, the Tipal obtained either through trade or by mking special trips to more distant sources, manganese, hematite, and obsidian. However, data based on collections from archaeological sites indicate that most artifacts were made from local materials. NATIVE CLASSIFICATION OF STONE FOR TOOLS Based on ease of fracture ?uirkwigae* (4) -- Clear quartz. Commonly used for blades and projectile points, as indicated by specimens found on archaeological sitee. ru.ihakwiad - Milky quartz. The Tip6i claim that there is a differ- ence between Ui?kwida and ?uiPhakwid based on the way the two stones fracture. The term _ ha_kwi also applies to white chalcedony, although it is quite different In appearance and texture from milky quartz. ?ui?upat? (p) -- Quartz crystals. If they are colored with lithia in tourmaline formations they are particularly esteeemod by shamans (kusiyai). Informant Ricardo Calles (kwih&:s gens) of Calabazas Canyon reported: It is said that if you hold one In the hand while gambling It will bring luck or if traveling it will protect you from harm. It ts very dangorous. fot! most people, though. The kusiy6i often attacks people through their dreams. He places one of these crystals under his intended victim"s blanket, quilt, or eleeping mt. This crystal Is just like a radio receiver. The kusiyii mIspt (sorcerer) sends his evil to the victim through the crystal: it talks, sings and weeps, just like a radio. Pretty soon the victim gets sick, worried, and mopes around; he doesn't know what is wrong. He won't eat. Then he will die or go crazy. It -is said that the kus iS can also cure with these crystals. Crystals are found at Pala and tourmaline at Mesa Grande, both in San Diego County (DuBoois, 1908, p. 99), and may have been traded Into northern Baja Callfornia. In January, 1940 Mr. A. 0. Treganza, Dr. A. E. Treganza, arid I discovered a possible source of black tourmaline and quartz crystals just north of Cantu Grade, between that road and La RumarosE, Baja California. The local Tipai may have utilized this outcropping within their territory since it is not as far away as Pala and Mesea Grande. ?ui?xukwv -- Smoky obsldian. This material Is not common In mountain sites but is found in archaeological sites along the Laguna Maguata (Salada) and as far south as the San Felipe Desert (El Desierto en lbdio), ln dune sites at Valle de Trinidad and along the salitral at the eastern base of 10 the Sierra San Pedro MIrtir. The nearest source for this obsidian apnar- ently is Obsidian Butte on the southeastern shore of Salton Sea, Imperial County (Treganza, 1942, p. 155, Footnote 13). The Tipai visited Cocopa settlements along Hardy's Colorado and either obtained the obsidian through that tribe or from the neighboring Kamia, a Diegue'Eio group. ?ui?xakwa -- This widely inclusive term is applied to any fracturable metamorphic or igneous rock which can be used for aitifacts. Thus it includes quartzite, rhyolitic tuff, andesite, d&cite, basalt porphyry, and the crypto-crystalline silicates (chert, flint, agate, Jasper or chalcedony). As long as It can be flaked, it is Pui?xakwa, regardless of. Western:geological classifiention. The term even applies to petrified wood. Scrapers, choppers, drills, bladeo, and projectile points may be made of such varied materials. Apparently there is little special stiec- tion of fracturable materials for blades or projectile points and choppers or scrapers (particularly turtle-back scrapers). Accordirg to the Tipai, almost any material can be used it it"breaks right." As an example, below are identifications (5) of only a few artifacts recovered from inland sites In Tipai territory: (a) Porphyritic dacite, with feldspar and-rare quartz crystal pheno- crysts in an extremely dense base. Scraper. (b) ?ery fine grained diorite. (6) Scraper and projectile point. (c) Calcareous slate or a mudetone. Large blades. (d) ?Denae metavolcanic rock with epidote. Core from which flakes have been removed. (e) MYtamorphosed rhyolite tuff. Scraper. (f) Porphyritic addesite, with large feldapars in dark, glasey groundmass. Five large blades, some with eerrated edges. (g) Devitrified? rhyolite glass. Projectile point. (h) ?Dense lava.(cryptofelsitic material stippled with mfinute flakes of biotite). Could be a fine-grained metamorphic rock. Projec- tile point. Specimens (f) to (h) were recovered from a "workshop" (taller) site in Santa Clara Valley, near Vallecitos, Baja California. All are highly patinated. Signal Mountain, Imperial County, is a nearby source of jaeper for the Tipai. Artifacts of this material have been recovered from dune sites along the west side of Laguna Maguata (Heizer and Treganza, 1944, p. 314). A s&urce of petrified wood Is Pinto Mountain, at the junction of Daviee' and International Wash on the United States-M4xican border. Examples of this material have also been recovered by Treganza from sites along the Laguna Maguata (ibid p. 351.). 11 Based on suitability for gr g ?ui?harrahrr -- Hard crystalline rocks which "do not break right," often represented by large or small boulders in arvoyo bottoms or creek beds. It makes little difference whether they are dense or coarse- grained. If they cannot be flaked but can be ground, they are considered by the Tipai as ?ui?harrahtirr. Such rocks may be ground into manos, netates, or free mortars. The usual pestle in the area is the cobble-pestle. Bed- rock metates and mortars are also made in large Immovable masses of such irotik. The most commonly utillzed type Is represented by a dense granite, but limestone, diorite, and hard sandstones are also used. Gifford, (1931` p. 4) says that the Kamia journeyed as far west as Jacua, San Die o County, for granIte from the northern foothills of the Sierra de Juirez. Of no specific use _u__ta__: -- This term applies to the disintegrating or exfoliating pale grey granite which is common In the interior of northern Baja California. It is represented by numerous outcroppings and titanic boulders, particu- larly in the higher parts of theS&erras Juarez and San Pedro Mrtir. It Is too "crumbly" to be used for artifacts. ?ui?~opa :k -- Large tumbled granitic boulders found in canyons and stream beds, too large to be of any use. ?ui?tu: -- Mica. By itself of no use but it is considered pretty. However, good pottery clay should contain mica enough to eliminate the need for added temper (see below POTERY CLAYS),., There ie a mica mine at Las Parras between Peni' Blanca and Ca'gon del Alamo, south of Tecate. No artifacts of steatite (soapstone) were found in northern Baja California and Tip4i informants failed to recognize the material by des- cription. However, Sernor Francisco Barrios (deceased, 1949) of La Puerta de Tecate informed ma that he had found a globular "olla" of soft, smooth stone at the east base of Picacho de Cuchwn overlooking Tecate. From his description of this "stone pot," it could have been a steatite bowl. There 1s a steatite quarry near the mouth of Carrizo Gorge in the north- east part of Jacumba Valley, 3San Diego County. In 1940 five steatite "plates" were found nearby and local arrowshaft-straighteners were also made of the same material, according to Treganza (1942, p. 157). (7) Waterman (1910, pp. 298 and 309) says that the Southern Diegue'1o of San Diego County used powdered soapstone for white body paint. POTIIERY CLAYS Texture, "bind.," and plasticity are the important points to consider in selectlng good. pottery clays. &,mat?sukwIn abau ("earth-pot-to mke") -- The best pottery clay, contain. ing mica. No added temper is needed. The old woman.Marfa Os8na (hat? am germ) of Manteca Canyon, one of the fe surviving Tlpai potters, said that.the good clay occurs in vetas (veins) in the.Sierra do Juarez foothilla. 12 There are many deposits of suitable clay in the Tipai country. Malcolm j. Rogers (1936) and Heizer and Treganza (1944) list other sources of pottery clay for Southern California. Pottery made from mountain clays burns a brick-red upon firing. Modern Tipgi ware has a hardness of 4.5 (chabazite) while archaeological specimens from the sa. localitles have a hardness ranging from 4.5 to 5.0 (apatite) on the pottery hardness scale.(8) Occasionally, in mountain sites, sherds of thinner ware are found, grey or buff in color, and they probably represent "desert ware" (made of alluvial clays) brought in by Tipi, or Cocopa from the Laguna Mguata region, between the Sierra de Jularez and the Sierra de loo Cucupa to the east. Emat?xwft -- A clay which'resembles ?mt'{sukwIn aMau but which is not as good because, unless temper Is added, ware made of this clay will crack in the firing process or even during the initial drying. Rotten granite pulverized in a stone mortar is added as temper. PIGMENTS Here, color is the factor of recognition and selection. Cmat? means earth (also body); the other terms indicate the color of the earth. &mati kwia: r -- inganese. Burned chunks of manganese.were pulver- ized into a black powder. According to informnts, this material came from the east and was probably traded in. The Kamia worked a deposit of psilomelane in the Jacumba Valley (Gifford, 1931, p. 35) and manganese was obtained by the Cocopa from the north end of Cerro Prieto (Black Butte), east of the Sierra de los Cuocupa (ibid, p. 278) . Black was used aboriginally by the Tipai as war paint. According to Waterman (1910, p. 313), powdered graphite was used by the Southern Diegue'o of San Diego County for painting the death images at the long mourning ceremony. nmat?kwarr -- Hematite. Deposits of red ochre are located at Mineral Springs (Waterman, 1910, p. 301) and Jacumba Valley (Gifford, 1931, pp. 35 and 42), both in San Diego County, and near the mouth of Carrizo Can- yon, on the east side of Jacumba Valley (Heizer and Treganza., 1944, p. 310). Another sodrce of hematite was the north end of Cerro Prieto where it was quarried by the Cocopa ard then traded to the Tipai. Also, iron oxide precipitated by iron-bearing springs In the foothills of the Sierra de Juarez was used locally as a red pIgment. By heating to stimulate oxida- tion, the red color was accentuated. A small spring, locally known as Agua Hechicera, in 1&nteca Canyon was such a source of iron oxide. matkw -- A yellowish pigent. This ia possibly limonite, or yellow ochre, which was widely used by California Indians, according to Heizer and Treganza (1944) . .Mat?hapa -- A white clay, deposits of which are found eleven kilo- meters east of Agua Hechicera (not the one in Manteca Canyon) in NeJf Valley. White was used as a mourning paint by the Tipai. 13 Local stories have it that south of the Sierra de las Tinajas in the Desierto en Medio, to the east of the Sierras JuArez and San Pedro Martir, there is a mysterious laguna de brea (bitumen lake) which appears and disappears at infrequent intervals. Although the Indians were reputed, by local Mexicans, to uae asphalt=u from it for waterproofing baskets and for adhesives, this claim oculd not be confirmed by native informants or through observationt The usual Tipai adhesive and water- proofing material was melted pinon gum SALT a_ -- The Tipai of northern BaJa California made trips both to the Gulf of California coast and to the Pacific boast for salt. On the latter coast a favorite spot was the mouth of the San Miguel Arroyo near the Mision Vieja, where there were tidal flats from which ealt could be scraped, leached through baskets, and crystallized by boiling.(9) Older native informants recall maklng special trips to that place thirty years ago. Mexicans also once collected salt from San Miguel, transport- ing it by burro for sale to inlard ranchere. MTALS kabkvas: -- Gold. This metal had no aboriginal use. Kwas: means "yellow. Since gold was the only metal the Tipai were aboriginally familiar with, the term was applied to any metal used by the Caucasians; for example, a rifle or shotgun is called hapu?kwas: ( meaning a stick or cudgel). No data were obtained regard.ing aboriginal knowledge of meteoric or telluric iron, or copper and silver. The Tipai are not interested in gold, in striking contrast to the attitude of the local Mexicans and foreigners. The Mexicans tell yarns about the Indians know- ing where the gold is and of secret Indian diggings, but none of these tales could be confirmed. Heizer and Treganza (1944, p. 341) note that California Indians in general were not interested in this metal. CONCLUSIONS Since the Tipai had. within their territory no outstanding sources of materials such as the crypto-crystalline silicates for blades and projectile points, they used what was available to them. Some attention was given to the volcanic rooks for such tools, while for grinding implements granite, diorite, and sandstones were the favorite materials. Although limited quantities of the arypto-crystalline silicates were obtained by the Tipai through trade or expeditions, artifacts of local mterials are by.far the commonest, as shown by collections from archaen- logical sites, and a wide range of local lithic materials was used for blades, choppers, scrapers, drills, and projectile points. Tipai classification of lithic materials is based on the factor of fracturability, suitability for grinding, texture ("feel"), plas- ticity, and color. For example, we class clear quartz and milky quartz together, but the Tipai class them as being distinct kinds of rook. Thus the Tipai classification of lithic materials reflects cultural use. FOOTNOTES (1) These brief notes are based on fleld work carried out during the summrs of 1948 and 1949, financed by the Department of Anthro- pology, University of California at Berkeley. Archaeological reconnaissance was authorized by the Departamento de Monimentos Prehispanicos of Mexico. dillected by Dr. Eduardo Noguera. Native words in these notes are recorded in the phonetic orthography of Bloch and Trager (1942) except that for trills a double "r" (rr) is substituted for their reversed capital "r," and long sounds are marked with a colon (:). (2) Based on C. E. Beal, 1948. (3) Table Mountain, twenty kilometers south of Tijuana and visible from the Pacific coast road, is an example. (4) ?ui? means "rock" or "stone." The other morphemes are descriptive but no meaning for each was obtalned. In view of the fact that types of rocks are always indicated by the prefix ?ui?, it Is noteworthy that a small rook-lizard common in the region is called ?ui?ko by the Tipdi. (5)- Identifications were kindly made by Dr. Howel Williams, Chairman, Department of Geological Sciences, University of California at Berkeley. (6) Query indicates that no microscopic section was taken. (7) An arrowshaft-straightener given to me in 1948 by Indians of anteca Canyon was made of micaceous schist. (8) Set "C", Ceramic Hardness Standards of the University of Michign Museum of Anthropology (in Mtrch, 1931T (9) Gifford (1931, pp. 24-25) notes that the Kamia used to leach out salt-impregnated earth from the Salton Sink and crystallized the product by boiling. 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY Beal, Carl H. 1948 Reconnaissance of the Geand Oil Possibilities of Ba3a California ?4xico. *1tmol.r no. 31, The Geological Society of America, Baltimore. Bloch, Bernard and G. L. Trager 1942 Outline of Linguistic Analyp a. Linguistic Society of America, Baltimore. Du Bole, C. G. 1908 Religion of the Luiset'o Indians. University of California Pub- lications in American Arohaeology and. Ethnology, vol. 8, no. 3. University of California Press, Berkeley. Gifford., E. W. 1931 The Kamia of Imperial Valley. Bulletin 97, Bureau of American Ethnology., Smithsonian Institute, Washington. Heizer, R. F. and A. B. Treganza 1945 Mines and Quarries of the Indians of California. Reprint from California Journal of Mines and Geology. Report XL of the State Mineralogist, July, 1944, pp. 291-359. State Printing Office, Sacramento. March, Benjamin 1934 Standards of Pottery Description. Occasional Contributions from the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Michigan, no. 3, Ann Arbor. Rogers, Malcolm J. 1936 Yurman Pottery Mkin San Diego Museum Papers, no. 2. San Diego. Treganza, A. E. 1942 A Reconnaissance of Southeastern California and Northeastern BaJa California. American Antiquity, vol, 7 Pp. 152-163, Nnasha. Waterman, T. T. 1910 Reliious Practices of the Diegue`no Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethno- logy. vol. 8, no. 6. University of California Press, Berkeley. 16