77. SOME PREHISTORIC WOODEN OBJECTS FROM SAN NICOIAS ISLAND

Robert F. Heizer

ABSTRACT

Specimens collected in 1880 from San Nicolas Island, one of

the Channel Islands of California, have remained unddscribed
in the American Museum of Natural History. Although exact

data as to the circumstances of collection are lacking, the
perishable nature of these wooden specimens leads one to
suspect that they were preserved in a cave, possibly the

abode of the last of the native inhabitants of the island,
who was removed in 1853.

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In September, 1940 Nels C. Nelson advised A. L. Kroeber in a letter that
there were a number of interesting undescribed objects from the Santa Bar-
bara region in the collections of the American Museum of Natural History.
Kroeber referred the letter to me, and in response to my inquiry Nelson,

in a letter dated September 14, 1942, sent me photographs and information

on the several wooden objects which are shown here. in Plate 1 and Figure 2.

The wooden dipper (P1. lh and Fig. 2b-d) is made of redwood (Seciuoia

sp.), and may therefore be presumed to be of Californian manufacture. The
material was probably derived from a piece of driftwood. It was collected
in 1883 by Cyrus Barnard on San Nicolas Island. The handle is broken, and
its present dimensions are:   length, 36 cm.; maximum width, 17 cm.; height,
5.5 cm. The rim varies from 3/8 to 1/2 inch in thickness. The interior
bowl measures 26.5 by 15 by 4.5 cm. The circumstances of its occurrence

are not recorded, though its excellent state of preservation argues for its
having been preserved under favorable conditions. The X-shaped incisions,
of which there is one at the base of the handle and three on the bottom,

presumably are seats for abalone shell inlays. This specimen is catalogued
as T-17474 in the American Museum of Natural History.

The three wooden handled flint blades shown on Plate 1 may be accurately
labeled as knives. The first (P1. le) has a total length of 25 cm. The
heavily weathered handle is lenticular in cross-section and has a narrow

closed excavation (not slot) to hold the chipped blade which is identified

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as quartzite. This piece was recovered from San Nicolas Island by A. W.
Barnard in 1880,, and is catalogued as T-12179 in the American Museum of
Natural. History.

The second specimen (P1. lf) has a total length of 19 cm, (AMNH T-12176).
The smooth wooden handle is lenticular in cross-section, and like the one

just described, has been excavated for insertion of the blade which is made
of chalcedony. The blade is held in place with asphaltum mastic0 It was
collected from San Nicolas Island in 1883 by Cyrus Barnard.

Tihe third knife (Plo lg) has a length of 22.5 cm. The blade (identified
doubtfully as of dark gray, laminated basanite) is set with asphaltum into

an excavated hole in the end of the handle, It was (AMNH T-12171) collected
in 1883 by Cyrus Barnard from San Nicolas Island.

It is unfortunate that no further details of the finding of these speci-
mens have been recorded, The native population of San Nicolas Island, con-
sisting of seventeen or eighteen survivors, was forcibly removed in 1836.

One woman was lert alone on the island for eighteen years. One account of
her solitary life on the island refers to a "good-sized cave in which she
took up her abode," and it may be that this cave provided the protective
conditions for the pieces collected by Barnard in the 'eighties and des-

cribed here, 7ndeed, the wood-handled flint knives and the ladle may have
been made and used by the old woman of San Nicolas Island for all we know.

78.  SOME PREHISTORIC BULLROARERS FROM CALIFORNIA CAVES

Robert F. Heizer

ABSTRACT

Archaeological specimens of bullroarers from two cave

localities in Southern California are described. This is
supplemented by comments on the function and wide ethno-
graphic distribution of bullroarers in California.

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In the course of some years of intermittent reading of the extensive
literature on California Indians, I have jotted down notes on the occur-

rence of varlous customs, beliefs, and artifacts, Such notes often prove

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