Pueblo Bonito metates (IMAGE)
Caption
A metate is a large stone slab used to grind plant foods, including the Four Corners potato. Microscopic starch granules become lodged deep within the tool’s crevices and can preserve for tens of thousands of years. Scientists can extract and identify the types of plants that were processed on the metate. These metates came from Rooms 28 (left, H/3293) and 54 (right, H/5773) at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon and yielded starch granules of S. jamesii.
Credit
Courtesy of the Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History.
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CC BY-SA