MESA VERDE Big Juniper House of Mesa Verde, Colorado Wetherill Mesa Studies

ORNAMENTS AND PAINT STONES

Ornaments

Rectangular pendants, perforated at one end. Three pendants, with a perforation drilled through one end (fig. 133a-c), and one pendant, with a hole started in one end (fig. 133d), are rectangular. The first three were ground on both faces and all edges. The perforations were biconically drilled, with the apices meeting in the center. All are made of orange to red shale.

Fig. 133 Pendants and pendant blanks. Length of a is 6.4 cm. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

Subcircular pendant. One pendant of buff travertine, subcircular in outline, has a perforation at the center (fig. 133g). Both faces and the perimeter were ground smooth. The perforation was biconically drilled.

Pendant blanks. Two ground, red shale specimens of approximately rectangular shape are probably pendant blanks (fig. 133e and f). One (fig. 133e) was ground on both faces and all edges. The other was ground on one face and one side only. Neither was perforated.

Beads. Three beads of three different styles were found. One is an annular bead of brown stone, 0.6 cm. in diameter and 0.4 cm. thick. It is polished and ground on both faces and around the perimeter. The biconically drilled hole is 0.2 cm. in diameter.

Another is made of azurite, oval in outline, with a narrow, V-shaped groove around the middle. It is ground over the entire surface. The dimensions are 0.6 by 0.4 by 0.4 cm.

The third bead, also of azurite, is spheroidal, with dimensions of 0.7 by 0.6 by 0.4 cm. It is ground over the entire surface. This may have been an inlay piece, as there is no groove or perforation for stringing. The two azurite beads were found together in the floor fill of Kiva A (table 9).

Paint Stones

Eight mineral stones are classified as paint stones (fig. 134). One or more surfaces have been chipped or ground to obtain pigment, probably for use in decorating pottery or other artifacts, or for wall painting or body decoration. Several unspecialized milling stones and pottery sherds described previously have traces of pigment, probably from the grinding of paint stones and mixing the pigment.

Fig. 134 Paint stones. Length of d is 3.9 cm. (click on image for an enlargement in a new window)

The paint stones are: hematite (6), two purple, three red, one red-brown; limonite (1), yellow-orange; limonite and hematite (1), yellow-red. Shapes are oblong (1), subtriangular (4), and variable (1). Measurements are: length 3.1 to 4.2 cm.; width 2.5 to 4.0 cm.; thickness 1.4 to 2.6 cm.; and weight 36 to 122 gm.