H16.3102

• north american indian

2Mortar, bowl shaped "Salinan."(warehouse card) From the History Information Station "Object: Mortar (and pestle, 16.3106) collected in San Luis Obispo County, the traditional home of the Esalen and Salinan peoples. ` History: Mortars and pestles were California's first food processors. They were used for grinding seeds and nuts into flour and for pulverizing dried meats. Making a well-shaped and usable mortar and pestle was hard work. Both utensils had to be carved out of a piece of solid rock by pecking and grinding with harder stones."

Used: food processing