Cogstones -- Ancient California Indians Left Relics That Mystify Archaeologists

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Long ago, about 2,000 years before the first stones were laid at the great pyramids of Giza, a band of nomads sat on the banks of the Santa Ana River, chipping away at lava chunks and crafting a scientific mystery.

No one knows who these people were, or when they left.

All that remains of their culture lies scattered beneath the landscape of Orange County, Calif.: stone manos, metates, arrowheads and a curious collection of artifacts called ``cogstones.''

For years, hundreds of cogstones have popped up, confusing farmers and archaeologists from Ventura County to San Diego. They are about the size of a hockey puck and resemble gears and oversized bits of breakfast cereal.

The cogstones were made between 6,000 BC and 2,000 BC and are found only in Southern California, mostly in Costa Mesa, Bolsa Chica and Newport Beach.

After that, science gets fuzzy.

``They've been looked at, analyzed and dissected, and we still don't have much but a lot of speculation,'' said Ron Bissell, a Mission Viejo archaeologist whose team found 11 cogstones last year at Foothill Ranch. ``All we really know is that they were made of stone and look like a gear. After that, one can let the imagination run wild.''

Cogstones typically are found on bluffs overlooking the ocean, along creeks or rivers and on knolls above the plains, although some have been discovered in the desert.

Cogstones rarely are found among other artifacts, so scientists do not know the context in which they were used or crafted.

The Indians who made the artifacts left no written or pictorial references to them. Scientists say cogstones, or objects of similar shapes, do not appear in other native cultures.

The objects lack wear patterns or similarity in the size, shape or number of teeth that could explain their use.

Some have been polished. A few have been broken and repaired.

They are too soft to be used as weapons or grinding tools. There are no traces of fiber on the stones, which probably weren't used for weaving ropes or fishing nets either.

The Indians had no use for money, so archaeologists discount the currency theory. Cogstones probably were not jewelry because about only one in six is perforated, and they are too bulky to hang.

Archeologists' theories vary widely.

A Huntington Beach archaeologist, Nancy Desautels, said the artifacts were used for medical or spiritual purposes.

Gary Hurd, a Dana Point archaeologist, contends that they were used in a type of relay race, in which cogstones were thrown and chased down by runners. He based his theory on similar sports in other Indian cultures.

To Paul Apodaca, folk-art curator for the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the stones had numerological, symbolic and ceremonial significance. The objects likely were used in sand paintings and ground displays to explain social, scientific or natural phenomenon, he said.

``They were probably used to help define life's rhythms,'' said Apodaca, a Navajo and expert on sand painting. ``Indian cultures often explain ceremonial knowledge through symbols and art.''

Armand Labbe, chief curator of anthropology at the Bowers Museum, contends that the objects were representations of marine life. Cogstones were shaped to resemble starfish, shark vertebrae, sea urchins and sand dollars, he said.

``My hypothesis is that they . . . were placed in rivers for re-fertilization or replenishing sea life,'' Labbe said.

Other scientists speculate that cogstones were used in burial ceremonies or were artistic representations of the sun. Some contend they were used to weight fishing nets; for ceremonial stone club heads; or as jewelry.