SEPTEMBER 2026 Tidbits from the Museum Series

Manos and metates were made across the prehistoric southwest by all the agricultural tribes.  As corn was a stable in Hohokam diets, manos and metates were needed in order to grind corn kernels into flour. 

Slab metates are long, broad basins of stone where a one or two-handed mano would be pushed and pulled across its surface, grinding the corn.  The mortar and pestle variety is were the metate is a circular stone with a deep depression in the center, and the mano is operated vertically in a crushing manner. 

By Bill Myers, Board Member and Museum Docent