Baessler-Archiv, Neue Folge, Band XVII (1969) 
245 
“MINIATURE” AND SMALL STONE ARTIFACTS 
FROM MESOAMERICA 
STEPHAN F. DE BORHEGYI, Milwaukee* 
In a recent article, Dockstader (1968) describes and illustrates a number of 
“miniature” Mesoamerican stone objects such as hachas, yokes, and stone “arm- 
guards” all from the collections of the Museum of the American Indian in New 
York. His article was prompted by reports of this author (de Borhegyi, 1961, 
1966, and 1967) of several miniature stone objects, yokes, knee yokes, hachas, 
horizontally tenoned ballcourt markers, mushroomstones, metates and manos, 
“toad stone” receptacles, “doughnut stones”, and star-shaped stone maceheads. 
Dockstader concludes his article saying: “until more of these curious examples 
turn up to increase our understanding, one can only record their existence and 
anticipate subsequent evidence which hopefully will reveal their purpose.” 
It is in this spirit of inquiry that I thought that the publication of some new 
evidence relative to these curious miniature stone objects, most, if no all, 
seemingly related to the ballgame complex of ancient Mesoamerica will be in 
order. 
Since 1967 the author has not only noted several miniature and small stone 
objects in various museum collections, but the Milwaukee Public Museum was 
also fortunate to obtain, primarily through the generous donations of Mr. 
Richard P. Herzfeld, of Milwaukee, a number of new small and miniature 
stone hachas, palmas, and massive, crested stone heads. 
* The writer wishes to acknowledge his thanks to Mr. Richard P. Herzfeld of Mil 
waukee, to Drs. Gordon Ekholm, Frederick Dockstader, Dieter Eisleb, Wolfgang 
Haberland, Otto Zerries, and Ferdinand Anton for their many helpful suggestions 
and to the Völkerkunde Museums of Berlin, Hamburg, Miinich, and Bremen for 
the permission to use the photographs of the objects in their collections. For all 
other photos, my thanks go to Mr. Leo Johnson, Chief Photographer of the Mil 
waukee Public Museum. I also want to express my deepfelt appreciation to the 
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, to the National Science 
Foundation, to the American Philosophical Society, ICOM, and especially to 
Drs. Götz Fehr and Erhard Jahn of the German Federal Government and Inter 
Nationes, all of whom made my various trips to study the Pre-Columbian collec 
tions in the West German museums possible. 
16 Baessler-Archiv XVII