The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley Part 18

_Incised Designs._ Among the designs incised on stone, attention may be called to the top of the pestle made of steat.i.te shown in Fig. 35, which bears two parallel longitudinal incisions and notches, ten on the left and eleven on the right of each side edge of the obverse. There are fifteen fine incisions running obliquely down from the notches on the left to the first longitudinal incision. They begin at the eighth notch from the bottom and extend to the lower notch. On the reverse are three longitudinal incisions apparently more recently made, and eleven notches on each side edge. This incised k.n.o.b is said by the Indians to represent the head of a snake. On the reverse of the steat.i.te object, possibly a mat-presser, shown in Fig. 59a, is an incised pictographic sketch which unfortunately, with the exception of the nine short lines above, was re-scratched by its owner. It is reproduced in Fig. 59b. The first figure beginning at the left possibly represents a tree. The middle figure has not been identified but it is clear that the one on the right represents a human being. On the left of the groove in the object are incised two hands pointing towards the left. These also were re-cut and are not reproduced in Fig. 59. The incision in the edge of the top of the club shown in Fig. 62 and the incisions at right angles to this were probably intended for decorative purposes. There is an incised design on the rounded surface of the saddle-shaped hollow of the club shown in Fig. 64. This design is made of transverse notches above and a zigzag line below. The upper part of the right edge of this k.n.o.b is flat with two incisions across it. Incised lines arranged parallel to each other in rows may be seen on the handle and k.n.o.b of the club shown in Fig. 68.

There are thirteen of these lines on either edge of the k.n.o.b. The other incisions are arranged in four vertical rows on the handle. The lines on the top of the sh.e.l.l pendant shown in Fig. 88 may be merely the depths of the teeth rather than incisions artificially made, but in this case they may have been considered as decorative and the sh.e.l.l may even have been chosen because of these lines. There are nine incised lines on the bone tube shown in Fig. 98. These run around it in a spiral direction in such a way that the lower end of each line is on the opposite side from the upper end.

The three transverse incisions on the top of the steat.i.te specimen shown in Fig. 99 may be for decorative purposes or merely as tallies as also the five small drilled pits arranged about equi-distant from each other around the top and the four similarly arranged near the bottom.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114 _a_ (202-8159). Incised Design on a Fragment of a Wooden Bow. From grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Naches River. 1/2 nat. size. _b_ Section of Fragment of Bow shown in _a_.]

The oblique incised lines on the edge of the mouthpiece and on the ridge about the middle of the pipe shown in Fig. 100, which slant outward from left to right at an angle of about 45 and make the ridge at least suggest a twisted cord, were no doubt made for decorative purposes.

Pictographic scratches may be seen on the disk-shaped stone pipe, shown in Fig. 107. Those on the reverse are shown in Fig. 115. A simple geometric incised line decoration on wood may be seen on a fragment of a bow shown in Fig. 111. It will be remembered that parallel irregularly arranged cuneiform incisions decorated a fragment of a bow found in the Thompson River region.[386] The incised design on the stone dish previously mentioned on p. 38 and shown in Fig. 116 consists of two horizontal incisions running around the upper part of the dish a little below its middle and a zigzag line made up of twenty-five V-shaped marks which fills the s.p.a.ce between the flat rim of this dish and the upper horizontal line.

[386] Smith, (c), p. 411.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115. Incised Design on Bowl of Pipe shown in Fig.

107. 1/2 nat. size.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 116. Incised Design on Stone Dish. From Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44537, 9-3. Original in the collection of Mrs. Hinman.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 117 (202-8193). Incised Designs on Dentalium Sh.e.l.ls.

From under the skeleton in grave No. 25 of a child in a stone cyst in dome of volcanic ash near Tampico. Nat. size.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 118 (202-8178). Incised Designs on Dentalium Sh.e.l.ls.

From among broken and charred human bones of about twelve individuals in cremation circle No. 15 (10) on terrace northwest of the junction of the Naches and Yakima Rivers.]

Incised designs on dentalium sh.e.l.ls are shown in Figs. 117 and 118. The first four were found under the skeleton in grave No. 25. This skeleton was of a child and was surrounded by a stone cyst buried in a dome of volcanic ash near Tampico, as shown in Plate X. This lot contained two sh.e.l.ls ornamented with designs of the type shown in _a_, but in the one not figured the diamond points met and formed a checker pattern. There were four of the type shown in _b_, one of the type shown in _c_, and two like the type shown in _d_. The specimens shown in Fig. 118 were found among broken and charred human bones of about twelve individuals in cremation circle No. 15 (10) on the terrace northwest of the mouth of the Naches River. While there was only one specimen of the type shown in _a_, there were two of the type shown in _b_, and one like the four represented by Fig. 117b. Another cremation circle containing incised dentalium sh.e.l.ls is known as No. 18 (13) and was located on the same terrace. The specimens are mere fragments, one of them, from the tip of the sh.e.l.l, bears a design similar to that shown in Fig. 117b, the other bears a simple incised spiral, the s.p.a.ce between one incision and another being about equal to the width of the incision itself. The character of both the technique and the motive of these designs resembles that of those found on similar sh.e.l.ls at Kamloops in the Thompson River region[387] and in the Nez Perce area to the east.[388]

The design shown in Fig. 117a at least reminds us of paintings on the parfleches found among the modern Sahaptin and Plains tribes.

[387] Smith, (c), Fig. 369.

[388] Spinden, p. 181 and Plate IX, Fig. 15.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 119. Incised Pendant made of Steat.i.te with Red Paint (Mercury) in some of the Holes and Lines. From manubrium of adult male skeleton in grave covered with rocks on a low ridge about two and a half miles south of Fort Simcoe. Nat. size. (Original in the collection of Mrs. Lynch.)]

The incised design on the pendant made of steat.i.te (p. 94, Fig. 119) does not seem to differ greatly in technique or motive from other incised designs found in this area and in the Thompson River region to the north. While most of the lines and pits can be considered as forming symmetrical or geometric designs, the central figure on the side shown in Fig. 119b may be interpreted as a conventional representation of a life form, namely, a fish. Red paint is rubbed into some of the lines and pits.

The human figure described under costume (p. 100, Fig. 121) is a somewhat conventionalized realistic form indicated by incisions on one surface of a piece of antler 2 to 5 mm. thick.[389] It was found in the grave of an infant under the vertebrae, No. 25 in a dome of volcanic ash. It is of good technique and artistic execution. The eyes are of the shape of a parallelogram with rounded corners. These, with similarly shaped figures on the headdress or inner hair-rolls, and on the hands, knees, and insteps, slightly resemble a motive common in the art of the coast to the northwest. The crescent-shaped mouth and thick lips are indicated by incised lines, while the cheeks are full, and the entire head is somewhat set out in relief from the rest of the object. The radiating figures above the head do not represent feathers in a realistic way, but closely resemble the conventional paintings made by the Dakota on buffalo robes. These paintings have been called sun symbols, but are interpreted by the Dakota as the feathers of a war-bonnet or other headdress. The fingers and thumb are set off from the palm by two lines, which, with the mark at the wrist, make a figure resembling the eye-form so common in Northwest coast art. The concentric design on the knees is probably related to the wheel, sun, or spider-web pattern common as a symbol on the shirts, blankets, and tents of some Plains tribes. The feet jutting out at the sides are slightly wider than the legs. The inside of the foot is straight with the inside of the leg, while the outer part is curved. The two, taken together with the lower portion of the legs, resemble a divided hoof. The divided hoof is a common design among Plains tribes.

[389] First described and figured, Smith, (g). See also abstract in Scientific American Supplement pp. 23876-8, Vol. LVIII, No. 1490, July 23, 1904 and in Records of the Past, l. c.; The Sat.u.r.day Evening Post, Sept. 10, 1904 and the Washington Magazine.

There are only two specimens, of which I am aware, that resemble this.

One (T-22107, 177 II) consists of seven fragments of a thin piece of antler found by Mrs. James Terry at Umatilla, Oregon, only about 83 miles in a southerly direction from Tampico. The back of this specimen is largely disintegrated, except on the two dog heads, and these being only about 5 mm. thick suggest that the whole figure was thin. The carving (Fig. 123) is in much greater relief than in the specimen from Tampico, although some of the lines are merely incisions. The tongue projects between, but not beyond, the lips. The cheeks are raised and there is considerable character to the face. The nose is aquiline and narrow, but the alae are indicated. The orbits are sunken and horizontal oblong pits evidently indicate the eyes. The eyebrows are raised. Two horizontal incisions extend across the brow. Below the chin, at the left, are four incisions in a raised piece. This seems to represent a hand held with the fingers to the neck. A similar hand was probably at the right. A foot, with four toes in relief projecting above the brow as high as do the eyebrows, rests immediately above the upper horizontal incision and apparently indicates that some animal, possibly a bird, stood upon the human head. The fragment, however, is not sufficiently large to settle these points. Two of the other fragments are apparently intended to represent the heads of dogs. The eyes are indicated by the common circle and dot design; while the nostrils in one are represented by drilled dots. The shape of the heads is brought out by the carving of the edge of the object. The fragments are broken off at the neck, and the lower side of each shows the finished surface of the back of the object. The remaining fragments show little or nothing. The animal heads and the feet and hands suggest the possibility that in some cases animal forms were combined in such figures, as on the Northwest Coast, although the general style of art of the object is like neither Haida nor Kwakiutl work, but more like the carvings of Puget Sound and the lower Columbia River. The fact that the carving of this face is more in relief helps to explain the intent of the author of the Tampico specimen.

The other specimen (50-3110 a, b, c) is a quill-flattener, made of antler (Fig. 122). It was obtained by Dr. Clark Wissler from the Dakota at Pine Ridge, South Dakota, who also made reference to other objects of the same sort among the tribe. Porcupine quills were flattened on it with the thumb nail until after it had been broken, when the lower or pointed end had been used as a brush in applying color to form designs on various articles made of buckskin. This end is stained a deep red and the point is much worn. The object, in general, resembles in shape and size the specimen from Tampico. Its sides are somewhat thinner and sharper. The slight indications of hair or headdress, the deeply cut eyes and mouth in the concave side, the holes or ears at the sides of the head, and the method of indicating the arms by slits, setting them off, from the body, are all details which emphasize this general resemblance. The technical work is about as good as that of the Tampico specimen, but the art work is inferior. One edge of the convex or outer surface of the bone has twenty-five notches, and in each tooth left between them, as well as above the top one, is a small drilled dot. Some of the notches on the other side are broken away with the arm, which is missing. On the same surface are twenty-six horizontal incisions, which were interpreted as year counts. The general shape of the body and the rows of dots are similar to those of the figure pecked on the cliff at Sentinal Bluffs (Plate XI, Fig. 2).

The Tampico specimen may have developed from a quill-flattener, which implement was probably of common and characteristic use among Indian mothers, not only of the Plains but also as far west as Tampico. If the result of such a development, it had probably lost its domestic use and become entirely symbolic.

Mr. Teit has heard the Thompson Indians speak of figures carved by some men in their spare time, and valued highly as curiosities and works of art. They had no practical value, and were generally used as ornaments inside the house. They were in wood, bark, stone and antler, more generally in the last three, and usually represented the human figure.

Although the Indians aver that they were sometimes very elaborately and truthfully carved, it is impossible to say, in the absence of a good specimen from the Thompson Indians whether there was any resemblance in style to that of this figure. The Thompson sometimes, placed such figures on the tops of houses, but the great majority were shown inside the houses. The Indian who made the one ill.u.s.trated[390] told Mr. Teit that he had seen some of larger size which had taken a carver's spare time for many months.

[390] Teit, (a), p. 376. Fig. 297.

The headdress seems to be a so-called war-bonnet, and would indicate that the figure was that of an important personage; perhaps a suggestion of what had been hoped for the child's position in the tribe or after death. The arms, body, legs, and feet are apparently bare and ornamented with ceremonial paintings, while about the waist is an ap.r.o.n. The whole object seems of a rather high order of art to be a mere child's doll, and it would seem more plausible to consider it as an emblematical figure. The general style of art and costume indicated show little or no resemblance to those of the Northwest Coast, but a strong relationship to those of the Plains.

There are some incised lines on the pipe shown in Fig. 127. Those on the pipe shown in Fig. 104 are described on p. 131. In the Nez Perce region, according to Spinden, incised designs, some of them of a pictographic character and probably modern are found on pipes, and designs of ladder shape are found on a flat plummet-shaped bone object.[391]

[391] Spinden, p. 188 and Plate VII, Fig. 31.

_Notches._ The notch in the base of the spatulate object made of bone shown in Fig. 58 and the two notches in each side of the base may be for practical purposes but were probably intended to be artistic, while the six notches in the edge of the pendant made of slate shown in Fig. 81 probably also have been intended for decoration or even to make the object represent something although possibly the representation may be rather conventional.

In the Nez Perce region to the east,[392] a notched stone has been found near Asotin and notches occur as decorations on objects found in the Thompson River region to the north, but, of this type, they are rare if not absent among archaeological finds on the coast to the west from Fort Rupert on northern Vancouver Island to Tacoma.

[392] _Ibid._, p. 183, Plate IX, Fig. 3.

_Circle and Dot Designs._ The circle and dot design is commonly found in this region. It may be seen on the top of the pestle shown in Fig. 30.

There is one of these designs in the tip and eleven about equi-distant in a row around the edge of the k.n.o.b. In the Nez Perce region to the east[393] the design is found on bone gambling pieces. Further east, this design is also found. This motive may be seen around the top of the bowl on a pipe (50-4867a, b) from the Gros Ventre Indians of Montana collected by Dr. Clark Wissler, which, however, is considered to be recent. To the west, it is not found among ancient things on the coast but among recent objects it may be seen on certain bone gambling cylinders and on beaver teeth used for dice. The design is common in the Thompson River region[394] and the Lillooet Valley between there and the coast.[395] It is perhaps even more frequently seen on the modern things among the Thompson River Indians[396] who often visit the Okanogan country.

[393] Spinden, p. 252, Plate VII, Fig. 30.

[394] Smith, (c), Fig. 378; (d), Fig. 109.

[395] Teit, (b), Fig. 92.

[396] Teit, (a), Figs. 118 and 210.

The pipe shown in Fig. 104 was secured from an Indian who is known to have frequently visited the Okanogan area so that if he did not bring the pipe from there, he may at least have gotten the idea for this style of decoration there. This suggests an explanation for the occurrence of the circle and dot design on what are apparently older specimens from the Yakima country. On the lower end of this specimen is a design made up of a zigzag line based upon an incision running around where the stem meets the bowl. The five triangles thus formed are nearly equilateral and there is a circle and dot design in each. Other circles and dots are arranged in seven equi-distant longitudinal pairs about the middle of the bowl. In addition, parallel to these, and between two of the pairs, there is a double-headed figure each end of which resembles the form of a crude fleur-de-lis. All of the incisions on this pipe are colored with red paint. The circle and dot design may be seen on the limestone pipe shown in Fig. 106. There is one circle and dot on the tip of the base, encircling this is a row of eight of them and outside of this still another circle of nine. Around the opening for the stem is a circle made up of eight, around the mouth of the bowl are ten and between the circle around the bowl and the one around the stem are three of the circles and dots. A typical circle and dot decoration is shown in Fig. 120 of what, as stated on p. 65, may possibly have been used as a whetstone. The object is made of slate and the top is broken off. It is 142 mm. long, 18 mm. wide and 6 mm. thick. The lower end and side edges are rounded.

On the reverse, the design is similar except that it is continued upward by three circles and dots arranged in the same order as the uppermost three on the obverse and that there are several slightly incised marks on it, one of which, of X form, makes a tangent and a cord with the next to the lower circle and dot. All the circles and dots are filled with red paint. There are twelve incisions, possibly tally marks, on one side edge near the point. The original is in the collection of Mr.

Janeck.[397]

[397] Museum negative no. 44503, 6-4.

The symmetrical arrangement of the perforations and the pits on both sides of the object shown in Fig. 77 was no doubt due to artistic motives.

_Pecked Grooves._ Some designs were made by pecking grooves in stone.

Part of these, those forming petroglyphs, have been mentioned on p. 121 and are shown in Plates XI-XIII. The upper portion of the marking on the grooved stone shown in Fig. 14 is made in this way. It may represent a feather headdress, such as is mentioned on p. 119 and such as is so common in the pictographs as well as in the petroglyphs. The design on the lower part of the same object was formed in the same way and on the obverse of the net sinker shown in Fig. 15 are pecked grooves forming three concentric semi-circles on each side of the groove and nearly parallel with the edges of the object. Taken together, they give the suggestion of a spiral. There are three pecked grooves encircling the stone mortar shown in Fig. 20 and two around the head of the pestle shown in Fig. 25. On each side of the lower part of the pestle shown in Fig. 31 is a longitudinal design made up of four parallel zigzag pecked grooves. The two pecked grooves at right angles to each other on the specimen shown in Fig. 60 while they are probably made for use may have been interpreted as decorative or artistic. This may also be said of the three pecked grooves at right angles to each other on the club-head shown in Fig. 61, and it seems likely that the eight pecked pits made in the middle of the s.p.a.ces between these grooves and possibly even the two pits at either pole of the object were intended to embellish it. Pecking was also the process employed in forming the sculpture shown in Fig.

125. The four pyramidal or dome-shaped nipples on the top of the k.n.o.b of a pestle found at Five Mile Rapids mentioned on p. 45 were probably made by pecking, followed by polishing and they may have served a ceremonial as well as a decorative purpose.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 120. Circle and Dot Design on Whetstone made of Slate. From the Yakima Valley. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44503, 6-4. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 121 (202-8191). Costumed Human Figure made of Antler. From grave No. 25 of a child in dome of volcanic ash near Tampico. 1/2 nat. size.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 122 (50-3110a, b, c). Quill-flattener made of Antler. From the Dakota at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. 1/4 nat. size.

(Collected by Dr. Clark Wissler.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 123 (T-22107, 11-177). Fragments of a Figure made of Antler. From Umatilla, Oregon. 1/2 nat. size. (Collected by Mrs. James Terry.)]

_Animal and Human Forms._ There are a number of sculptures that apparently were intended to represent heads of animals, whole animals and human forms. The top of the pestle shown in Fig. 31 is sculptured to represent what is apparently an animal head. The top of the one shown in Fig. 33 has three nipples one of which is longer than the others. This sculpture also seems to represent an animal head, the ears being indicated by the short nipples and the nose by the long one. The top of the pestle shown in Fig. 34 apparently represents an animal head, the mouth being indicated by the groove, each eye by a pit and there are four incisions across the top or back of the head. A sculptured animal head, with wide open mouth, pits for eyes, and projections for ears on what may be a pestle top, has been found in the Nez Perce region to the east[398] and pestles with heads are found in the Thompson River area to the north.[399] The k.n.o.b shown in Fig. 35 (p. 47) is interpreted as representing a snake's head. The heart-shaped k.n.o.b on the top of the club shown in Fig. 68 resembles the form of an animal head and stands at an angle of about 45 to the axis of the club. Two of the incised circles probably represent the eyes. The top of the handle of a digging stick made of horn of the Rocky Mountain sheep, shown in Fig. 126 is sculptured to represent an animal head. It was obtained from an Indian woman living near Union Gap below Old Yakima.