Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Discrete assemblages, or clusters, of bifaces in mortuary association are a relatively rare phenomenon throughout the greater San Francisco Bay area (cf. Contreras 1957; Wiberg 1988:23). This paper presents a formal description, trace element analysis, and interpretation of two such clusters found close together in a prehistoric cemetery in Santa Clara County, some 30 km. south of San Francisco Bay (Fig. 1).