Forum Newbie - Metate Questions

[Grizz]

Greetings, All! Grizz here!
This is my first post on this forum. I am awed and amazed by the finds described by members on this site. I can see that there is a massive amount of knowledge and experience represented here, and I would like to contribute.
I have had a strong interest in these topics since I was in grade school, and it has only increased with the passage of time.
Right off the bat, I would like to pose some questions regarding metates. I see many references to manos on this forum, but the posts concerning metates are few and far between. In your collective experiences, have you ever heard of metate cairns? Numerous metates stacked carefully together in a single location, all intact and face-down? If so, would you care to speculate on the reason this may have been done?
I appreciate it very much, and hope to bring something to the mesa, so to speak.
Thanks, Grizz

[Steve Valentine]

I can't help you with your question, but I will welcome you to the site and say that I'm sure someone will be along with some answers.

[Grizz]

Thanks, Steve!
- Grizz

[SoCalHunter]

Welcome. I've never heard of them being stacked but my dad dug 9 mortars out of one hole. The hole was about 10 feet in diameter when he was done. But I would estimate 95 percent of all the mortars I've found over the years were upside down. I assume to keep dirt and water out of them.

[Grizz]

SoCalHunter, thank you for the response!
When your Dad dug the metates, do you know if they were found packed tightly together, or were they separated by inches or feet? Do you know how your Dad located the spot where he dug? Was this a California find?
Thanks, Grizz

[Tom Westfall]

Welcome to the forum. I've heard of metates being stored together in Pueblo ruins but haven't hunted in these types of places.

[Grizz]

Thanks, Tom! No, that would definitely not be an appropriate hunting location.
- Grizz

[SoCalHunter]

Grizz yes they were ca finds. We saw a piece of granite and dug around it till we could flip it over that was the first. That same day we found 2 more within a foot either direction of the first but cover by 4-6 inches of dirt. My dad went another time without me and found the other 6 the next time I saw the spot there was a 2 foot deep 10 foot diameter hole. There was also cooking stones and burnt rocks in the same hole. We assumed it was like a kitchen area or something of that nature.

[Grizz]

SoCalHunter;
Thank you for those enhanced descriptions! That must have been exciting, knowing that you were the first people to touch those implements since they were placed there......how many years ago?? Wouldn't you love to know the timeline??
- Grizz

[longtimefree]

in my life i have found five matates upside down, four in shelters, one in a creek, i always wondered why they were upside down , no one ever had an explanation , many more right side up portable matates as we call them, then upside down ones , i dont know why we called them portable other then they were some what moveable, as opposed to one in a shelf of rock, i am pretty sure no one was toting them any where lol, welcome to the site, and seeings you asked the question, what are your thoughts concerning the matates gathered togater and turned upside down?