The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley Part 16

This suggests them to be more modern than the tubular pipes in this region where also they are not as numerous. The type is not found among the archaeological remains in the Thompson region, but Mr. Teit sent one simple bowl pipe to the Museum from a very old grave at Spuzzum besides two from the Thompson Indians.[333] The absence of this form of pipe among archaeological specimens from the areas to the north and west suggests that the culture of this region is somewhat more closely related to that further east than are the cultures of the areas further north and west. The pipe is ornamented with a circle and dot design again mentioned under the section of art on p. 131.[334]

[333] Teit, (a), Figs. 275 and 276.

[334] Museum negative no. 44505, 6-6.

Specimens of the third or disk-shaped type are shown in Figs. 107, 108 and 109. The first, made of sandstone, is from the Snake River Indians, was a part of Mr. D. W. Owen's collection, and was presented by him to our expedition. It is nearly of the form of a disk but has slightly bulging sides, 52 mm. long, 49 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. The mouth of the bowl is 13 mm. in diameter; while the opening for the stem, at right angles to it, is 9 mm. in diameter. The convex appearance of the sides or ends of the disk is due to the beveling of these surfaces near their edges. On each of these sides is an incised design. These are again mentioned under the section of art on p. 125. The second specimen, shown in Fig. 108, is oval in outline with slightly convex sides. The object is made of blue stone and was found in the Yakima Valley. It is about 52 mm. long, 41 mm. wide, and 19 mm. thick. Parallel scratches on the surface suggest that it was brought into shape by grinding with a piece of sandstone, although these marks may be interpreted as those made with a file. The opening in the bowl tapers evenly towards its base, from one of the longer edges of the discoid; while the somewhat longer drilling for the stem from one of the shorter edges of the disk, at right angles to the bore of the bowl, is of nearly the same diameter throughout. The specimen is in the collection of Mr. Louis O. Janeck of North Yakima.[335] The third specimen of this type which is shown in Fig. 109 is No. 155 in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and was also found in the Yakima Valley. It is made of stone resembling quartzite in appearance and is of a waxy, yellowish brown color. It is nearly circular in outline, almost flat on the rim, and the sides are somewhat convex. It is 45 mm. long by 40 mm. wide and 19 mm. thick. The bore of the bowl is 16 mm. in diameter at the mouth, and is somewhat larger than that of the stem, which is 10 mm. in diameter at its end, and at right angles to the bowl. Each bore tapers from its outer opening to the point of juncture.

In the Nez Perce region to the east near Asotin city, this disk-shaped type of pipe is found.[336] Mr. Fay Cooper Cole of the Field Museum of Natural History believes the Tlingit have a variation of this type of pipe and that it is also found in California. Its occurrence in Oregon is mentioned by Moorehead.[337]

[335] Museum negative no. 41503, 6-4.

[336] Spinden, p. 189, Fig. 6, Plate IX.

[337] Moorehead, Fig. 27, p. 316.

The fourth or rectangular bowl type is shown in Figs. 110, 111 and 112.

The first shows the axis of the bowl and that of the stein, at nearly, if not exactly, a right angle. The specimen is in the collection of Mr.

York, and is made of soft grit or sandstone. The outer opening of the bowl is somewhat larger than that of the stem. There was a band around the bowl, made up of a single thickness of thread which is not shown in the figure.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 110. Pipe made of Soft Sandstone. Locality Unknown.

1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr.

York.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 111. Pipe made of Steat.i.te. Locality Unknown. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr.

York.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 112. Pipe made of Soft Sandstone. Locality Unknown.

1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr.

York.)]

The second of these specimens, shown in Fig. 111, is a simple elbow pipe with the angle between the axis of the bowl and the stem, slightly greater than 90 degrees. It is also in the collection of Mr. York and is made of steat.i.te, which he calls Wenatchee pipe stone. The outer opening of the bowl is slightly larger than that of the stem. The third specimen, shown in Fig. 112, is also of the simple elbow type and the axis of the bowl is nearly at right angles to that of the stem. It is in the collection of Mr. York, and is made of soft grit or sandstone of a yellowish gray color. In the Thompson River region to the north, according to Mr. Teit, there seems to be little doubt but that the tubular pipe has been supplanted by the simple bowl and elbow types.[338] This change may have been brought about by the copying of the early trader's pipes but Mr. Teit believes it more likely to have come from influence from the southeast, pa.s.sed from tribe to tribe about the same time as the advent of the horse or a little later. The Thompson River Indians tell him that the tubular pipe continued to be the one in common use as long as native tobacco only was used, but after the introduction of manufactured tobacco the elbow type came to be exclusively used because very much better adapted for holding the latter kind of tobacco. In the Nez Perce region to the east, pipes with rectangular bowls were found.[339] One of these bowls has an incised design representing a tomahawk, which with the character of other incisions on it suggest that it is modern. Only two finds of elbow pipes have been reported on the coast. These,[340] which were of fragments, were said by Mr. Edmond Croft to have been found by him in a sh.e.l.l heap near Markham on Grey's Harbor, Washington. They are made of fine-grained sandstone of a gray color. Both were apparently intended to be used with a wooden stem and one of them has a ventral mid-rib from the mouth of the stem nearly to the base of the bowl which reminds one somewhat of a similar appendage on the pipe from the Yakima Valley shown in Fig. 113 and one from the Thompson Indians.[341] My supposition has been that they reached the coast recently from this general region possibly by way of the Columbia or were taken there by employees of the fur companies in early historic times.

[338] Teit, (a), Figs. 271 and 306.

[339] Spinden, p. 188, Figs. 7 and 8, Plate IX.

[340] Smith, (b). Fig. 140.

[341] Teit. (a), Fig. 306.

The fifth type is ill.u.s.trated by the specimen shown in Fig. 128. It is the only specimen of this type which I have seen from the region. It is now in the collection of Mrs. Jay Lynch at Fort Simcoe who obtained it from Chief Moses. It is made of black steat.i.te which Mrs. Lynch calls Wenatchee pipe stone, inlaid with white metal and has a wooden stem. It is comparatively modern as is shown by the presence of inlaid white metal. The mouth of the bowl is 18 mm. in diameter, but tapers suddenly, the rest of the bowl cavity being nearly cylindrical. The opening for the wooden stem is 11 mm. in diameter, and also tapers suddenly to a nearly even bore. It is of the same form as many of the pipes made of red pipe stone (catlinite). This form of pipe is found throughout the Minnesota-Dakota region. This specimen, however, bears four carvings, which together with the inlaid white metal design are further mentioned under the section of art on pp. 118 and 135. It would seem that this type of pipe belongs to the region further east, and as no ancient pipe of this form has been found in this whole region, as well as from the fact that this specimen marks the most westerly occurrence of this form, so far as we know, we may conclude that it was introduced from the east in comparatively modern times. The type of carving, however, may be of more local origin. The bringing together of several animal forms may be a.s.sociated with the idea of the totem poles found to the west; but no more so than the wooden pipe stems of the Plains which the general character of the carving more closely resembles.[342] In this connection, it may be well to remember that in the Nez Perce region, catlinite for pipes seems to have been acquired from the Plains tribes.[343] A pipe made from stone found in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, is in the collection of Mr. C. G. Ridout, of Chelan, Washington, who states that it has a representation of a bear and a man on the shaft back of the bowl.

[342] Museum negative no. 44508, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.

[343] Spinden, p. 188.

A specimen of the sixth type is shown in Fig. 113. It is the only one of this style which I have seen in the whole region, and was obtained from a Yakima Indian. It is in the collection of Mr. McCandless. It is made of steat.i.te, which Mr. McCandless calls "sandstone from the northern part of Wenatchee Lake." The form of the pipe seems to be a conventionalized tomahawk pipe. The bowl is circular in section and somewhat urn-shaped and rests upon the part that is drilled for the stem and which is rather square in cross section with slightly convex sides.

Projecting from the lower part of this is the form which represents the tomahawk blade. It is wider at its convex edges than where it joins the base of the stem part. Its three edges are flat, and it is of about equal thickness throughout. The pipe is somewhat stained by tobacco. It seems likely that this was modelled after the metal hatchet, tomahawk or tomahawk pipe, introduced by the traders,[344] being a rather modern pipe, since such objects do not seem to have been used in early times in the great plateau region according to Lewis.[345]

[344] Museum negative no. 44506, 6-7.

[345] Lewis, p. 190.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 113. Pipe made of Steat.i.te. From a Yakima Indian.

1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44506, 6-7. Original in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)]

The seventh type is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 127. The specimen is the only one of the style which I have seen from this whole region and so closely resembles in its carving the work of the Kwakiutl, Haida and Tsimshian Indians of the coast to the northwest, that I am inclined to believe it was brought in as a gift or by trade. The material is apparently soft slate, but is rather light in color, possibly having been burned. Its appearance suggests that it is the same as that used by the Haida Indians on the Queen Charlotte Islands, for the carving of such things as dishes, miniature totem poles, and pipes. The pipe is made up of carvings representing among other things a bird, a human form and a human face, which are more fully described under the section of art on p. 136. This specimen was found two feet deep in earth at one side of a grave in a little hillside on Topp.e.n.i.sh Creek, four miles southeast of Fort Simcoe. Above the earth were rocks, and the grave was marked by a circle of stones. In the grave were found elk teeth, and a sea sh.e.l.l, filled with a blue powder, evidently paint, and covered with what appears to be gut or a bladder-like skin. What is described as a silver coin, afterwards lost, was found with this pipe. It is possible that it may have been a silver disk or medal. The bowl of the pipe, which was gouged out, is in the middle of the carving, and the tube for the reception of the stem projects from the end under the human form. The upper part of the human figure is broken off. A hole was drilled in the opposite end of the pipe through the lower part of the bird form, but if it had any connection with the bowl, this is not now discernible.[346]

The specimen shown in Fig. 59 and considered as a mat presser reminds one of an unfinished pipe.

[346] Museum negative no. 44509, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11.

ART.

The graphic and plastic art of the early people of this region is ill.u.s.trated by pictographic line paintings in red and white on the basaltic columns of the cliffs;[347] petroglyphs of the same general style pecked into similar cliffs; incised designs on stone, bone, antler and dentalium sh.e.l.ls, and carvings both incised and pecked in stone.

Some of the objects found are colored by red ochre or have it rubbed into the lines of their incised designs. Examples of graphic art seem to be more common than those of plastic art.

[347] A few of which were figured and described in Smith, (g), pp.

195-203, and abstracted in The Scientific American Supplement, pp.

23876-8, Vol. LVIII, No. 1490, July 23, 1904, and in Records of the Past, pp. 119-127, Vol. IV, Part IV, April, 1905.

The paintings and pecked designs on cliffs are more or less geometric although pictographic in character. The incised designs are still more geometric and include the circle and dot commonly found in the Thompson River region.[348] This design is also common on modern objects from the coast of British Columbia and Washington, but was not there present among archaeological finds. Lewis[349] states that according to the early writers, in the general area of which this is a part, porcupine quills were much used for decorating articles of clothing and that later, beads were used for this purpose. The modern designs are largely floral. Among the Nez Perce, floral and plant designs in beadwork are particularly common although some geometric designs occur, as on belts, the decoration of which is largely geometric, as squares, triangles and similar figures.[350] Lewis[351] believes that the designs of the general region were originally geometric and that some of the modern geometric designs are survivals, while others suggest eastern influence.

He further states that floral designs are found among the Salish tribes but to a much less extent. We found no floral designs among the archaeological specimens in the Yakima area. Some of the incised work, on certain of the carvings is of good technique, and artistic execution.

This is noticeable in the object made of antler, carved on one surface to represent a human figure in costume, shown in Fig. 121 and on the dish shown in Fig. 116. Inlaying with white metal was practised in comparatively modern times. Animal heads are represented by the specialization of k.n.o.bs on pestles, an animal form by a mortar and human forms by some of the pictographs, and petroglyphs, the incised antler figure and several of the pipes.

[348] Smith, (c), Figs. 360b and 378; (d), Figs. 109, 110 and 111.

[349] Lewis, p. 191.

[350] Spinden, p. 236.

[351] Lewis, p. 191.

Many of the representations are realistic, others are highly conventional. Some conventional representations are explained by similar figures. For instance, the radiating lines of the pictographs shown in Plate XVI are probably explained satisfactorily by similar figures in Plate XI, Fig. 2, such radiations on the costumed figure in antler shown in Fig. 121 or by the feather headdresses worn by the present natives.

Spinden states that in the Nez Perce region, realistic figures are probably of recent origin.[352] One of the carvings is clearly of the art of the northwest coast, from which the object or the artist who executed it must have come. Some of the pictographic-geometric and conventional figures probably represent guardian spirits and ill.u.s.trate dreams done in symbols. A few art forms are evenly s.p.a.ced on objects but only a few are distorted to fit the shape of the field. Pictographic symbols and conventional figures may be placed in groups to form designs as in the arrangement of the circles and dots on the pipe shown in Fig.

106.

[352] Spinden, p. 236.

In general, the art of the region tends toward line work of geometric and a slightly pictographic nature. It shows little resemblance to that of the coast, but a strong relationship to that of the Plains. The decorative art of the Nez Perce region includes motives from the Plains and also from the Pacific Coast.[353] Some of their designs partake strongly of motives from the Plains, while here in the Yakima Valley there are perhaps more examples of coast art and still much influence from the Plains. Spinden says that in early times the Nez Perce were very poor in decorative ideas and that the richness and variety found in their modern art may be ascribed to the absorbing of ideas from other cultures. This is perhaps equally true of the Yakima region where the influence of coast art in proportion to that from the Plains is perhaps greater than in the Nez Perce region.

[353] Spinden, p. 233.

_Paintings._ Pictographic line paintings somewhat geometric in character, made on the basaltic columns on the west of the mouth of Cowiche Creek, on the south side of the Naches River, about four miles northwest from North Yakima, are shown in Plates XIV-XVI. These pictures, some in red, and some in white, were probably painted with mineral matter mixed with grease. Their antiquity is unknown. In the Nez Perce region to the east,[354] pictographs in red, yellow and black occur, while in the Thompson River area[355] and in the Lillooet Valley,[356] pictographs in red are found. Some of the Yakima pictographs have been destroyed during the construction of the irrigation flume which runs along the top of this cliff. Others are partly covered by the talus slope. All those remaining, are here represented by those reproduced in the plates. They extend from the top of the talus slope upward a distance of perhaps five feet. Many of them are indistinct, and appear more easily seen, if they are not actually clearer, in the photographs here reproduced than in the originals. Many of the paintings represent human heads and headdresses and one of them the whole figure with such a headdress. These headdresses may be compared to similar designs in the petroglyphs (Plate XI) at Sentinal Bluffs, thirty-three miles to the northeast (Fig. 2, Plate XII and Fig.

1, Plate XIII) at Selah Canon, eight miles to the northeast and the headdress pecked on the grooved net sinker shown in Fig. 14. Also, taken together with the pictographs representing the full figure with similar headdress shown in Fig. 1, Plate XIV, may be compared to the petroglyphs of men each with a headdress among those at Sentinal Bluffs, the human figure with a headdress carved in antler found near Tampico, only fourteen miles to the southwest and shown in Fig. 121, petroglyphs which apparently represent human forms somewhat similar to this, on Buffalo Rock, in the Nez Perce region to the east[357] and the quill flattener carved to represent a human form with headdress or hair from the Dakota shown in Fig. 122.