Bowl mortar and pestle (left); grinding slab ("metate") and handstone ("mano"). All are made of stone.
Stone Tools from the Brazil Mound
One of the most common items at many prehistoric sites in Central California are tools shaped from stone, and the cores and waste flakes that resulted from this shaping. Stone tools were used by prehistoric Native Californians for a variety of tasks, including hunting (stone tips for spears, darts, and arrows), skinning and butchering of animals (sharp-edged cutting and scraping tools), and the pounding or grinding of seeds, nuts, and other plant foods (stone mortars and pestles, flat grinding slabs or metates , and hand-held grinding stones or manos ). Other tools were made of wood, shell, and other organic materials, but these are more perishable and often do not survive in the archaeological record. As with all people, prehistoric Californians spent much of their time collecting, preparing, and eating food. For this reason, tools associated with these tasks are usually very common in archaeological sites, along with those used for activities like wood cutting and basket weaving.
Flaked Stone Tools
The flaked stone tools from the Brazil Site consist mostly of projectile points (tips for spears, darts, or arrows), bifaces (miscellaneous tools which have been shaped on both sides, or "bifacially"), and flake tools (multipurpose tools made from flakes of stone). These tools were made from several different kinds of stone, most of them volcanic in origin. Some of these, including basalt, may have been carried down into the Valley from the adjacent foothills and mountains in the form of cobbles and small boulders. Others, like obsidian, do not occur naturally in this part
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