THE SO-CALLED HOMINY-HOLES OF KENTUCKY

Transcription

1 THE SO-CALLED HOMINY-HOLES OF KENTUCKY E BY W. S. WEBB AND W. D. FUNKHOUSER VIDENCES of what apparently represents a peculiar method used by aboriginal Americans in grinding corn or other materials are to be found in certain parts of Kentucky in the form of ancient mortars commonly known as hominyholes. They occur on the floor of rock shelters or in boulders at the entrance to such shelters in the ciiff regions of the state, and consist of conical holes excavated in the rock and generally worn smooth and deep by long use. In or near such holes may usually be found the pesties which were evidently used for crushing or grinding the grain in the holes. The holes are often two or three feet deep, generally six or seven inches in diameter at the top and gradually narrower toward the bottom. They are usually bored straight downward in the face of the cliff or in an exposed ledge or fallen boulder not far from the overhanging roof which provided the shelter. That they were an absolute necessity to the dwellers in these shelters and that they were constantly used is proved by the fact that it is very unusual to find a true rock shelter in the particular region described without one, and the additional fact that where a long series of shelters are found along the face of a single cliff, there are generally one or tuo and sometimes several holes in front of each shelter. In such cases one of the holes will be very deep, perhaps so deep that it could no longer easily be emptied, another will be shallower, and perhaps one or two others just started. The pestles are usually of limestone, from six inches to a foot or more in length, two or three inches in diameter, roughly cone-shaped, broad, flat and flanged at one end and rounded at the other, and sometimes marked with ridges or grooves. The lips of the holes are also occasionally grooved or roundly notched. There seems to be no question but that this represents a primitive type of grinding mill which, so far as we are aware, has not been commonly found in this country 701

2 102 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 31,1929 nor carefully described in previous archaeological reports from this part of the Mississippi valley. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION So far as we have been able to learn, the sites of these hominyholes are limited to that part of Kentucky which is drained by the Green river and its tributaries. We have traced them through Hardin, Breckinridge, Grayson, and Hart counties along the streams emptying into Rough creek and Nolin river, both of which are tributaries of Green river, and have records of them in Ohio, Muhlenberg, and Logan counties, all of which are in the Green river drainage area. We have yet to secure a record of a hominy-hole from any other part of the state. It would be rather interesting if the distribution proved to be limited to this particular region, as now seems to be the case, and to represent the habit of a single group of people living along this one watercourse. We have previously reported hominy-holes (Ancient Life in Kentucky, , 1928) from a number of localities in this area and, in fact, were able to bring to the University of Kentucky a single huge sandstone boulder containing such a hole from Hart county, after bringing it down the side of the cliff, dragging it a mile or more over a creek bed, and carrying it twenty miles on a wagon over extremely bad roads to the nearest railroad, but only recently have we been impressed with the apparent definite and limited distribution. TOPOGRAPHY The Kentucky cliffs abound in overhanging walls of rock, beneath which shelter is easily obtainable. These shelters are locally known as rock-houses and were undoubtedly used as habitations in prehistoric times. Within the shelters are often found graves and beneath them, at the foot of the cliffs, large kitchen-middens, sometimes so extensive and so full of bones and other organic matter, that the farmers of the neighborhood haul the material away and spread it over the fields to enrich the land, a purpose to which it is well adapted. The region under discussion lies partly in the so-called Knobs and partly in the cavernous limestone area of the state. In the

3 WEBB AND PUNKHOUSER] HOMIN Y-HOLES OF KENTUCKY 703 Knobs the geological outcrops are largely in the Chester series and the cliffs and overhanging ledges occur along the canyon walls of streams where the water has cut a gorge and has eroded the softer strata of the sandstone to form the pockets or caverns; in the latter, the streams are largely underground and form the lost rivers and subterranean waters for which the region is famous. Here the shelters are in the sides of old valleys or above large sinks. The country is very rough and the shelters, due to more recent erosions, are often almost inaccessible. The region is largely unproductive and is thinly settled. Travel is extremely difficult since the dirt roads are impassable in wet weather and the cliffs can be reached from the nearest highway only on horseback. It sometimes happens, too, that strangers are not welcomed, since the ravines beneath the cliffs may shelter other industries than those of prehistoric tribes who used the hominy-holes, and it is not always good policy to insist on extended explorations. However, the authors have usually been able, by assurance that they were deaf, dumb, and blind to everything but hominy-holes while in the gorges, and that they promptly lost their memory afterward (an assurance which, needless to say, has always been religiously observed) to locate the sites and make measurements and photographs. SPECIAL SITES The authors have recently made a short survey trip into parts of Hardin and Breckinridge counties and are able to report the following definite sites of hominy-holes which have not been previously recorded. Due to the fact that it rained almost continuously during the entire trip, the conditions for photography in the dark rock shelters were extremely poor but the photographs here reproduced will, it is believed, give a fair idea of the appearance of the hominy-holes and their environments. 1. Hardin county. Nine miles southwest of Vine Grove. On farm of Hugh Yates. A line of cliffs averaging about 90 feet in height extends for over a mile in a rough northeast by southwest curve across this area. They stand above a broad depression, 775 feet above sea level, in which are several ponds. The outcrop is Cypress sandstone. Two shelters are found in this cliff.

4 7 04 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST IN. S., 31,1929 The first is large and faces due east. The floor is of made dirt which has been excavated to a depth of nearly fifteen feet without reaching a rock bottom and the dirt has been spread over the surrounding fields for fertilizer. This made dirt contains a large amount of ashes and animal bones and in it were found fifteen or more human skeletons and many hundred artifacts. lhe authors secured a large number of the artifacts and one human skull. lhe owner of the property had agreed to save the other skeletons and had brought the bones to the house and piled them behind the wood-box in the kitchen. Immediately, however, his wife s rheumatism became so bad that he removed the bones from the house and plowed them under between the corn rows. (We were not able to learn whether or not the rheumatism at once improved.) The hominy-hole in this shelter is in a ledge which projects about 2 feet from the northeast wall. The hole measured 8x7 inches in diameter at the top and is 29 feet deep. The second shelter on this site is les; than a hundred yards from the first, around a bend of the cliff, and faces southeast. This is a smaller shelter and the rock floor is covered by only a few inches of dirt. The hominy-hole is on the floor, 5 feet from the back of the shelter. This hole is 7 inches in diameter at the top and 269 inches deep. 2. Hardin county. At Solway, 16 miles southwest of Elizabethtown. On farm of Henry Aubrey. A line of low cliffs, averaging 40 to 50 feet high, extends in a north and south direction for several miles across this region. At this particular site the land slopes gradually from the cliffs to a small stream which proved an excellent collecting ground for water snakes. The. hominy-hole is in the top of a large sandstone boulder, 32 feet directly east from the base of the cliff. The boulder measures 15fx19 feet in diameter and is 4 feet high. The hole is 71 inches in diameter at the top and is 2 feet 3 inches deep. 3. I-Iardin county. One mile due north of Solway. On farm of Noel E. Cundiff. I he cliffs here extend roughly east and west and are very high. The shelter is large and crescent-shaped and faces south. The hominy-hole is in a partly exposed sandstone boulder 4 feet from the back wall of the shelter and 50 feet from the stream bed below. The hole is 6 inches in diameter at the top and is 2 feet deep. 4. Hardin county. At Cow Cliff, 4 miles southwest of Howe s valley. A series of high cliffs extending in a general northeast by southwest direction contain a number of fine rock shelters from which on a previous expedition the authors secured many artifacts and found large amounts of ashes, broken pottery, and animal bones. These shelters are extensive and show evidences of long habitation. In the largest of these shelters, which faces northwest, are two hominyholes in sandstone boulders lying side by side. The larger of these boulders measures 27 feet in maximum circumference and the hole is 8x7 inches in diameter and 2 feet deep.

5 WEBB AND FUNKHOUSER~ HOMIN Y-HOLES OF KENTUCKY 705 The second hole is in a larger, flatter, lower boulder, which is only partly exposed. This hole apparently represents only the beginning of the grinding process since, although it is 8 inches in diameter, it is only 5 inches deep. 5. Hardin county. One and one-fourth miles southwest of Cow Cliff. On farm of Hendrix Cundiff. In many respects this is the most interesting site we have ever examined, since three hominy-holes are to be found in the top of an enormous boulder and the edges of the holes are deeply grooved, the possible cause of which will be discussed later. The shelter, which is a large one, is situated high up in the face of a short, high cliff extending northeast by southwest, with the exposed face towards the northwest. The shelter itself faces almost due north. The boulder which contains the holes stands 7 feet above the present level of the dirt floor and measures 241 feet in circumference. The holes are in the top of the boulder and are of different sizes. The largest is 64 inches in diameter and is 2 feet 5 inches deep; the next is 6 inches in diameter and 2 feet 3 inches deep; the smallest is 41 inches in diameter and 8; inches deep. 6. Breckinridge county. At the Neb0 schoolhouse in the town of Dyer, 10 miles east of Garfield. On farm of C. D. Powell. A line of low cliffs, not more than 20 to 30 feet in average height, and extending for only about three hundred yards, contains several shallow rock shelters. The cliffs extend east and west and the shelters open toward the north. One shelter, which varies from 4 to 6 feet in height and is 17 feet deep, contains a hominy-hole in the floor a few inches from the back wall. The hole is 7 inches in diameter and 2 feet deep. A broken limestone pestle was found in the bottom of the hole. This pestle may have been used as a plug to raise the bottom. This shelter is protected in front by a large boulder, so that entrance is afforded only at the sides, around the boulder. We have the record of another hole which was formerly located 75 yards due east of this shelter but which has recently been destroyed. This hole was a larger and deeper one and marked the corner of the lands of W. A. Allen, C. I). Powell, and the Neb0 school. An old deed made this Indian Hole the corner of a boundary line. 7. Breckinridge county. Three hundred yards east of the Constantine Hill Mill Pike, 3 miles southeast of Constantine. On farm of Bill Skeeter. These cliffs are on a tributary of Rough creek, about 4 miles below Williams Mill. The country is very rough and in the wet weather in which the site was visited the approach was very difficult. There are four large hominy-holes in a ledge beneath the cliff, which are plainly visible from a higher ledge on the opposite side. High water and other obstacles prevented measurements and photographs. 8. Hardin county. Six miles southwest of Howe s valley on the Salt River road. On farm of Sam M. McCuffin. Locally known as the Deer Cave Cliff. In a long line of cliffs about 600 yards west of the road is a fine shelter,

6 706 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. ~.,31, feet deep and 150 feet across. The overhand which forms the roof of the shelter is a stream valley and a small waterfall flows over it. The hominy-hole is in an exposed ledge, which is level with the floor on one side and 2 feet high on the other. The hole is 5 inches in diameter and 1 foot, 2 inches deep. A stone plug was found in the bottom of the hole. 9. Hardin county. Three and one-half miles south of Howe s vallcy. On farm of J. W. Love. A series of clifis running roughly east and west contain a number of good shelters on the south face. The largest of these shelters, which is30 feet deep, 120 feet long, and 40 feet high, contains two hominy-holes, both on the sloping rock floor. Both holes when visited were entirely hidden beneath a luxuriant growth of poison ivy. The larger hole measured lltx88 inches in diameter at the top and was 2 feet deep. The smaller hole was 7 feet, 8 inches east of the other and higher up on the slope. It measured 5x4 inches in diameter and 133 inches deep. PROBABLE METHOD OF GRINDING There are to be found in Kentucky, in considerable number, four types of stone pestles as shown in plate 58. Three of these types, a, b, and c, are common to all parts of the State, except the region under discussion. They are, however, not found under cliffs and rock shelters or in association with hominy-holes. These forms may be described briefly as (a) bell-shaped pestles, to be used in grinding in a lap-stone mortar; (b) short, cylindrical pestles, also used in hand mortars, and (c) specialized ellipsoidal river pebbles, to be used on rubbing stones. All of these pestles show the result of use, the grinding process producing a smooth surface on the base of the bell pestle, on both ends of the cylindrical form, and on the oval surface of the pestles used on the rubbing stone. These forms were therefore used to grind grain by sliding or rolling over the surface of the mortar. Plate 5Xd is the only type of pestle found in association with the hominy-holes. The specimen figured was taken at a depth of seven feet from a trench about the base of the large boulder having a hominy-hole in its top, under Cow Cliff, Hardin county, as previously described. This pestle was near the original floor level of the rock shelter, resting on sandstone. Sassafras growing on the sides of the cliff had sent its roots some twenty feet along the old floor of the sandstone shelter and had wrapped themselves about the pestle, which is of limestone. They had thus etched their

7 WEBB AND PUNKHOUSER~ HOMINY-HOLES OF KENTUCKY 70; pattern on its surface. However, quite enough of the original artifact remains to indicate that this type of pestle is quite different in use from the ordinary bell-shaped pestle used for grinding in mortars. The usual bell-shaped pestle is smooth on the base (the result of grinding) and generally rough on the handle. This hominy-hole pestle shows great wear over the pointed end and shaft and is rougher on the base. A careful investigation shows that every pestle found in association with hominy-holes is bellshaped, and worn by use on the point. This very strongly suggests that they were used in these hominy-holes, pointed end down. If so used, they crushed the grain not by grinding in the hole, but by percussion, being raised and allowed to fall. Thus is offered a simple explanation of how the hominy-hole was originally made and kept roughly conical in form and why it gets much deeper instead of larger with continued used. In general the diameter at the top is about the same (7 inches), no matter whether the hole be one foot or three feet deep. In fact many holes are found so deep that it must have been inconvenient to remove the meal after grinding. This might necessitate the starting of a new hole. As previously stated, holes an arm-length deep are often found in the immediate vicinity of smaller and newer holes-often in the same boulder. This would seem to indicate that the hole was worn deeper by continued percussion, the grain cracked by the impact, rather than by true grinding. It is apparent that an old hole would be more efficient in preventing the scattering of the material ground than a very shallow new hole, if the percussion method was used. It would therefore seem natural that primitive man here would use a hole as long as possible and would thus defer the time of starting a new hole in a given locality. When a hole became too deep to be convenient, it is quite natural that in some cases he would fit a plug in the bottom of the hole thus to raise the level of the bottom and make it possible to continue the use of this hole rather than start a new one. In seeking a plug for this purfose he v ould require a tight-fi tting plug, hard enough to stand the blows of a limestone pestle. It would be natural to

8 708 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 31,1929 use for this purpose a portion of a limestone pestle, which having been previously used (and probably broken) in the hole, would probably make a good fit, and would be as hard or harder than the sandstone about it. This seems to be the explanation of the finding by the authors of a number of hominy-holes, each quite deep, containing a plug of limestone at the bottom, the plug having clearly the appearance of a broken section of pestle (see pl. 47). The bell-shaped pestles under the cliffs near hominy-holes are from five to eight inches long. This would necessitate their attachment to a handle or shaft some three feet or more in length for use in the deeper holes. These pestles all show a concave depression in the base and in general one or more flattened sections on the rim of the bell, as if for attachment to such a handle. Under the Cundiff Cliff previously referred to there is a large boulder somewhat higher than a man, in the top of which are three hominy-holes. On the outer rim of this boulder there has been cut in the hard surface, a score or more of nearly vertical furrows, each about two inches in diameter, and extending from the top of the boulder over the rim and down the side where the furrow fades out. These grooves are about two inches deep at the deepest part. If from their position we may assume that they were made in the process of use of the hominy-hole, the process of grinding by percussion must offer an explanation of their product:on. It is well known that primitive man was well acquainted with the forces of elasticity and made use of them in settingsnares, and in the bow. If he could have bent down a young sapling growing near this boulder, or used the limb of an overhanging tree, the pestle and its shaft might have been attached and caused to move up and down by pulling the tree down and allowing it to spring upward. Such a simple mechanism would not have been beyond the ability of the primitive dwellers under these cliffs, and such a device would easily account for the grooveson the side of the boulder, as in order to pull down the tree limb it would be quite natural to attach to it a rope of grass, leather, or perhaps a wild grape vine, and as the pestle was caused to work up and down, this rope dragging over the edge of the boulder would saw out the furrows as found. While it may

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13 [WISRR-PUNKIIOIJSEK] PLATE 45

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15 AYERICAN ANTHRCJPOLOCIST, N. s., VOL. 31

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17 a; I 0 c a, 5 c. Ld.- c M.4 B 5

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19 [WEUB-PUNKHOUSE:K] PLATE 48

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23 AMERICAN ANTIIROI OLO(;IST, N. S., VOL. 31 [WEBB -I? UTPU KHO USR 111 PLATli 50 c W F b

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25 AM1:RICAN ANTIIROPOI.OCIST, N. S., \'ClL C

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27 AMERIC'AN AKTIIROPOLOCIST, N. S., LOL.

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29 AMERICAN ANTIIROPOLO(;lSl', N. S., VOL.,3l

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31 d c

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35 [Wl?BB-FUNKAOUSER] PLATE 56

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37 [WEBB-FUNKAOUSER] PLATE 57 e, 5

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39 AMERICAN ANTIIROPOLOCIST, N. S., VOL. 3 1 c

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41 WEBB AND PUNKEOUSER] HOMINY-HOLES OF KENTUCKY 709 not be positively proven that this method was actually employed, there seems nothing in the position of the holes, the grooves, or the boulder which would interfere with the employment of such a process. In conclusion, from the investigation of these hominy-holes and the pestles associated with them, the authors believe that here is to be found a unique method of grinding by percussion, using a bell-shaped pestle, point downward, in the hominy-hole. So far as is known no such method of grinding has been previously reported from outside the tributaries of the Green river. Whether or not this method of grinding may be one of the distinguishing characteristics of a distinct culture, or only a local variation of the well-known lap stone mortar, remains yet to be determined. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY