COMMENT

is the well-known account recorded among the A Further Note on Lithic Yurok by Schumacher (1877), as reported by Heat-treating in North­ Squier (1953) and Hester (1972:63): western California A piece of one of the . . . stones, which breaks sharp cornered, and with a con- THOMAS R. HESTER choidal fracture, is heated in the fire, and then rapidly cooled, after which it is struck In a recent paper in this journal, Gould on the break-edge, by which means it is split into flakes. To such a flake, a suitable (1976) presented some very useful information rough shape is given by striking it with a on the archaeological evidence for the thermal tool. alteration of stone by prehistoric flint-knap- pers in northwestern California. I have pre­ Although Schumacher's observation is not as viously reviewed the ethnographic evidence of specific as we might wish, it appears that the this technological practice in North America Yurok heated and then rapidly cooled chip- and other areas (cf Hester 1972, 1973; SoU- pable stone so that the material could be berger and Hester 1972) and ColUns (1973) has broken into flakes. This process could easily presented archaeological and ethnographical result in the production of numerous pieces data from the Old World. of shatter, of the kind described by Gould There are two areas of Gould's paper which (1976:143). I beUeve caU for further comment. I find to be Another example is found among the of most interest Gould's statement on p. 143: neighboring Wiyot, as recorded by Stephen Powers (see Squier 1953:18): The possibUity thus exists that cobbles of agate and jasper were collected by Indians The Viard proceed in the following man­ from the beaches and placed in fires, ner: Taking a piece of jasper, chert, obsid­ perhaps solely for the purpose of lithic ian, or common flint, which breaks sharp reduction or perhaps in connection with cornered and with a conchoidal fracture, stone-boiling of water and acorn gruel.... they heat it in the fire and then cool it No careful effort was made by the Indians slowly, which spUts it into flakes. The to control the rate at which the agate and arrow-maker then takes a flake and gives it jasper cobbles were heated and cooled, so an approximate rough shape by striking it many cobbles shattered into useless frag­ with a kind of hammer. ments. . . . Here we have an account which would more With this, and following statements, Gould closely fit Gould's hypothesized sequence: the sets fortU a "hypothetical Uthic reduction se­ heating and subsequent slow cooling of sil­ quence" for the Point St. George site. iceous cobbles, resulting in the splitting or I believe that his "hypothetical sequence" is shattering ofthe cobble. It is interesting to note partly supported by ethnographic information that Powers uses a fairly technical phrase— available for the general north and north­ "which breaks sharp cornered and with a western CaUfornia region. For example, there conchoidal fracture"—identical to that used 124 THE JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA ANTHROPOLOGY by Schumacher in describing Yurok heat- southern Texas, where heat-treating was uti­ treating. Schumacher's original version of this lized in the knapping of coarse-grained chert practice was published in 1874, and Powers, in cobbles, "pot-lids" and cobbles which have his account published three years later, may produced "pot-lids" Uave been too greatly have seen Schumacher's description and ap- damaged by excessive heating to be of use in pUed some of his terminology to the thermal lithic reduction (cf Hester and ColUns 1974). alteration process as practiced by the Wiyot. Perhaps, as Gould suggests, replicative ex­ In north-central CaUfornia, the Nomlaki perimentation can resolve this problem as it obtained flint cobbles from local stream-beds concerns the northwestern sector of Califor­ and fractured them "by means of slow, even nia. heating. . ." into more workable smaller frag­ The University of Texas at San Antonio ments (Goldschmidt 1951:419; see also Hester 1972:63). VoegeUn (1938:28) reports a similar Uthic reduction sequence among the Tiibatu- REFERENCES labal of east-central California. ColUns, M.B. These and other California accounts, as 1973 Observations on Thermal Treatment of well as records from Oregon, the Great Basin, Chert in the Solutrean of Laugerie Haute, and other parts of North America, clearly France. Proceedings of the Prehistoric reflect the heat-treating technique as a primary Society 39:461-466. phase in certain lithic technologies. Obsidian Goldschmidt, W. was also subjected to thermal alteration by 1951 Nomlaki Ethnography. University of Cal­ some California groups (cf Hester 1972:63). ifornia Publications in American Arch­ The brief accounts noted here from north­ aeology and Ethnology 42(4). western California would seem to support Gould's Uypothesis: jasper, flint (chert), and Gould, R.A. other siliceous stones were thermally altered in 1976 A Case of Heat Treatment of Lithic a process in which the application of Ueat (and Materials in Aboriginal Northwestern CaUfornia. Journal of CaUfornia An­ the subsequent cooling) was not carefuUy thropology 3(1): 142-144. controlled. These brief ethnographic accounts suggest that the cobbles split or shattered, and Hester, T.R. that flakes were then selected for knapping 1972 Ethnographic Evidence for the Thermal purposes. Gould (1976:143) suggested that Alteration of Siliceous Stone. Tebiwa cobbles would shatter into "useless fragments"; 15:63-65. this may be partially true, but the Wiyot 1973 Heat Treating of SiUceous Stone Among account suggests that flakes were selected from CaUfornia Indians. Southwest Museum the shattered material for further reduction. Masterkey 47:110-112. I am dubious that cobbles with "pot-Uds" were selected for use as cores (Gould suggests Hester, T.R., and M.B. Collins that the "pot-lid" fracture served to create a 1974 Evidence for Heat-Treating of Southern striking platform). In lithic assemblages that I Texas Projectile Points. Bulletin of the have studied, particularly in Texas and north­ Texas Archeological Society 45:219-224. eastern Mexico, "pot-Ud" flakes usually result from an intense application of heat and both Schumacher, P. the "pot-lid" and the specimen from which it 1877 Methods of Making Stone Weapons. derives, are thoroughly fire-crazed and un­ U.S. Geographical and Geological Sur­ suitable for knapping. In the lithic industries of vey, Bulletin 3:547-549. COMMENT 125

Sollberger, J.B., and T.R. Hester because they were too successful at pro­ 1972 Some Additional Data on the Thermal tecting their charges from Spanish land- Alteration of Siliceous Stone. Oklahoma grabbers. Anthropological Society BuUetin 21:181- The following points may be considered: 185. 1. The suppression ofthe Jesuit Order, first Squier, R.J. in the Portuguese Empire, then in the Spanish 1953 The Manufacture of Flint Implements by Empire, and a few years later completely, was a the Indians of Northern and Central big event no doubt with complex causes. After California. Berkeley: University of Cal­ 1740 the Jesuits were no longer fully con­ ifornia Archaeological Survey Report trolling Baja California and excluding out­ 19:15-44. siders. The cause of the suppression is better Voegelin, E.W. sought in the efforts of Carlos III to establish 1938 Tubatulabal Ethnography. University of secular authority in his realm. In any event, the CaUfornia Anthropological Records 2(1). Order was suppressed by 1769 and not avail­ able to missionize California. 2. The Jesuit record in Baja California shows greater efficiency than that ofthe Fran­ ciscans farther north. They accomplished their work with half the number of missonaries and Comment on Anderson's far fewer soldiers in a harsher environment. Their record of protecting the Indians of the Review of Nava and Berger peninsula, however, is hardly better. In the 70 HOMER ASCHMANN years up to the time of their expulsion (1767) the population of the Cape region had been In his review of California: Five Centuries exterminated and the Indian population ofthe of Cultural Contrast by Julian Nava and Bob rest of the missionized area reduced to one- Berger {Journal of California Anthropology, fourth of its original number (actually to one- Winter, 1976, pp. 100-103), E.N.Anderson eighth except for the new northern missions makes some relevant points concerning their founded after 1751). In the unpubUshed Venegas' "whitewashing" of the Spanish missionaries' there is an extended discussion explaining how treatment of the Indians. The reasons for this the death of Indians shortly after their baptism whitewash perhaps do not need to be ex­ was one of God's blessings since they could go pressed. While I generally agree with and Uke directly to heaven in the full fervor of their the tone of the review, in his correction of faith and before they had a chance to back­ Nava's and Berger's gross errors concerning slide. mission history Dr. Anderson has introduced 3. The Dominicans were not put out of another set of errors concerning mission his­ Lower CaUfornia but remained there as long as tory that require comment. He notes: the Franciscans did in Upper California, that is until all missions were secularized by Mexican At a more remote level, why did the Law. Colonial government give California to the harsh Franciscans rather than the more 4. My reading of the record suggests that tolerant Dominicans and Jesuits, who had the Dominicans were considerably harsher more success in keeping their charges alive? toward their Indian charges than the Fran­ The Dominicans had been put out of ciscans. Their free use of the whip was re­ (Lower) California, and the Jesuits out of membered by descendants of Frontier Indians all missionary activity, to a great extent into the 1920's.^ The Dominican president