Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/507

Rh. Fig. 3, from a photograph of this skeleton mounted, shows the attitude in which its owner was compelled to live for many years. This ossification had also partially extended to other parts of the body: he could not move his ribs in breathing, he could not lift his head. Another interesting discovery noted by Mr. Hughes was the fact that one of his arms had been broken and most skillfully reset. As Mr. Hughes remarked, the finding of this skeleton, interred, as it had been, carefully, with a fine mortar, two or three bone implements, and an abalone shell, tells us that the former inhabitants of the Robles Rancheria had advanced far enough in civilization to care for the old and decrepit members of their little society. This one at least must have been practically helpless long before his death.

The objects interred with the skeletons are made of stone, shell, and bone; of stone implements the mortar and pestle are the most common; in fact, they are surprisingly common, indicating the possession of a great number within the same tribe. They are of the stone found in the immediate neighborhood, with one exception, and are of all grades of finish, as seen in Fig. 4, which shows us all varieties, from the rude bowlder, in which two or more slight concavities have begun to be worn, to the finished mortar, smooth within and without. The most finished mortar of all found was a small one used for grinding paint, shown in Fig. 5. The series of this implement taken from this rancheria furnishes a beautiful illustration of the evolution of what is perhaps the most primitive of human