The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley Part 3

[60] Smith, (c), p. 410; Teit, (a), Fig. 232.

Bone points and barbs were used in the Nez Perce region to the east, where three types of spears with bone points were known, two of them at least being similar to those found in the Thompson River region to the north.[61] The war spears sometimes had a point of bone, usually lance-shaped, but sometimes barbed.[62]

[61] Spinden, p. 189 and Fig. 5^s, ^10, ^11.

[62] Spinden, p. 227.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 7 (202-8165). Point made of Bone. From the W., N. W.

part of grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide about half a mile above the mouth of Naches River. 1/2 nat. size.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8. Point made of Bone. From Kennewick. 1/2 nat.

size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mrs.

Davidson.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9 (202-8143). Scorched Point made of Bone. From grave No. 1 in a rock-slide of the Yakima Ridge. 1/2 nat. size.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10 (20.0-1468). Point made of Bone. Found in a grave on an island in the Snake River, five miles above its mouth, 1/2 nat.

size. (Collected and presented by Mr. Owen.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11. Point or Barb made of Bone. From the Yakima Valley below Prosser. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. Spalding.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 12 (202-8381). Point or Barb made of Bone. From the surface, near the head of Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat. size.]

_Bows._ The only information which we have regarding bows is from the specimen shown in Fig. 114. The object seems to be a fragment of a bow which was lenticular in cross section although rather flat. It is slightly bent and the concave side bears transverse incisions. (p. 125.) The specimen was found in grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide about one hundred and fifty feet up the slope on the north side of the Naches River, about half a mile above its mouth. The presence of several perishable objects in the grave suggest it to be modern, but no objects of white manufacture were found. This is the only object indicating the sort of bow used in this region and with the exception of the chipped points previously described, some of which were undoubtedly for arrows, is the only archaeological object tending to prove the use of the bow.

It will be remembered[63] that fragments of a bow of lenticular cross section ornamented with parallel irregularly arranged cuneiform incisions, were found in a grave near Nicola Lake in the Thompson River region and that pieces of wood, some of which may have been part of a bow, were found in a grave at the mouth of Nicola Lake; also that pieces of wood found at Kamloops resemble a bow of the type shown in Fig. 220 of Mr. Teit's paper on the present Thompson Indians.[64]

In the Nez Perce region to the east, war clubs with heads made of unworked river boulders, according to Spinden,[65] were sometimes used in killing game and such may have been the case in this region.

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

[64] Teit, (a), Fig. 216.

[65] Spinden, p. 188 and 227, also Fig. 5^5.

_Snares._ Fragments of thongs, skin, fur and woodp.e.c.k.e.r feathers merely suggest methods of hunting or trapping which are not proven by any of our finds. It is barely possible although not probable that the bone tubes considered to have been used in gambling and ill.u.s.trated in Figs.

97 and 98 and also the perforated cylinder of serpentine shown in Fig.

99 may be portions of snares. Traps and snares of various kinds were common among the Indians of the larger plateau area of which this is a part.[66]

[66] Lewis, p. 182.

Mr. J. S. Cotton informs me that in the vicinity of Mr. Turner's home, Section 6, Town north 18, Range 40 east, on Rock Creek, about six miles below Rock Lake, and in the vicinity of the graves described on p. 140 and the so-called fort mentioned on p. 82, there is a long line of stones running from Rock Creek in a southeasterly direction across the coule to a small draw on the other side. This chain of rocks is about five miles long. The stones have evidently sunk into the ground and show signs of having been there a long time. They have been in the same condition since about 1874 when first seen by the whites, even the oldest Indians claiming to know nothing about them. According to Lewis, game was surrounded and driven in by a large number of hunters or was run down by horses, in the great area of which this is part.[67] It seems altogether probable that a line of stone heaps may have been made to serve either as a line of scarecrows, possibly to support flags or similar objects, which would have the effect of a fence to direct the flight of the game or as a guide to enable the hunters to drive the game towards a precipice where it would be killed, or a corral where it would be impounded.

[67] Lewis, p. 182; Ross, (a), p. 316; De Smet III, p. 1026; Lewis and Clark, IV, p. 371.

_Notched Sinkers._ Sinkers for fish nets or lines were made of disk-shaped river pebbles. A pebble and the different types of sinkers are shown in Fig. 13. These were numerous on the surface of the beach of the Columbia River near the head of Priest Rapids. They have two or four notches chipped from each side in the edges. When there are two, the notches are usually at each end; when there are four, they are at the end and side edges. Sometimes, the notches are so crudely made that the edge of the pebble is simply roughened so that a string tied about it at this place would hold. One of these sinkers from Priest Rapids was seen in Mr. Mires' collection.

_Grooved Sinkers._ Some large thick pebbles have grooves pecked around their shortest circ.u.mference. They may have been used as canoe smashers or anchors, but seem more likely to be net sinkers. Two of these are shown in Figs. 14 and 15. They are from Priest Rapids and are in the collection of Mr. Mires. Both are battered along the lower edge, from the groove on the left to within a very short distance of it on the right and over a considerable portion of the edge of the top. In the second specimen, this battering forms a considerable groove on the lower edge, but a groove only the size of those shown in the ill.u.s.tration on the upper edge. This battering suggests that they may have been used as hammers, but the battered ends of hammers are not often grooved. There are certain grooves pecked on one side of each which seem to be of a decorative or ceremonial significance and are consequently discussed on p. 132 under the section devoted to art. The first specimen is made of granite or yellow quartzite with mica, the second is of granite or yellowish gray quartz with augite and feldspar. One specimen similar to these two, but without any decoration or grooving (202-8116) was found by us on the beach at Kennewick as was also a large pebble grooved nearly around the shortest circ.u.mference (202-8332) at Priest Rapids.

One object of this type made of a boulder but grooved around the longest circ.u.mference was seen in Mr. Owen's collection. It was found on the bank of the Columbia River two miles below Pasco. The specimen described on p. 60 which has a notch pecked in each side edge and is battered slightly on one end may have been used as a net sinker, although it has been considered a hammer. This specimen (202-8214) in a way resembles the small flat notched sinkers except that the notch is pecked instead of chipped and that it is larger and thicker in proportion. Other specimens which are considered as net sinkers, anchors or "canoe smashers" instead of being grooved, are perforated by a hole which tapers from each side and has apparently been made by pecking. Sometimes this hole is in the center, while in other cases it pa.s.ses through one end. Fig. 16 ill.u.s.trates such a specimen. It was found at Priest Rapids and is in the collection of Mr. Mires. It is made from a river pebble of yellowish-gray volcanic rock. The perforation is in the broadest end. A similar specimen perforated near one end and one pierced near the middle were seen in Mr. Owen's collection. He believes that these were used for killing fish, an Indian having told him that such stones were thrown at the fish and retrieved with a cord which was tied through the hole.

Probably all of these were sinkers for nets or at least anchors for the ends of nets, set lines or for small boats.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 13 _a_ (202-8296), _b_ (202-8318), _c_ (202-8313), _d_ (202-8330). Pebble and Net Sinkers made of Pebbles. From the surface of the bank of Columbia River, near the head of Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat.

size.

Fig. 14. Sinker, a Grooved Boulder bearing a Design in Intaglio. From Priest Rapids, 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44536, 9-2.

Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)]

Sinkers were not seen by us among archaeological finds in the Thompson River region but Mr. James Teit has informed the writer of their use there on both nets and lines, particularly on the former. Nets, excepting the bag net, were very little used in the Kamloops-Lytton region along the Thompson River and that may account for a scarcity of sinkers among archaeological finds. Nets were more extensively used on the Fraser River, but were very much used near large lakes and consequently one would expect to find sinkers in the vicinity of such places as Kamloops, Shushwap, Anderson, Seaton, Lillooet, Nicola, Kootenay and Arrow Lakes. Now, as the Shushwap generally made little bags of netting in which they put their sinkers to attach them to nets, this would greatly militate against the finding of grooved, notched or perforated sinkers in the Shushwap part of this region. They probably thought this method was more effective or took up less time than notching, grooving or perforating stones, and attaching lines to them.

It is unknown which of these methods is the most primitive. Unworked pebbles, chosen for their special adaptation in shape, and others grooved or perforated were used in some parts of the interior of British Columbia for sinkers which were not enclosed in netting. Unworked pebbles attached to lines have been seen in use among the Thompson River Indians by Mr. Teit who sent a specimen of one to the Museum.[68] These were of various shapes, some of them being egg-shaped. A deeply notched oval pebble was found on the site of an old semi-subterranean winter house on the west side of Fraser River at the month of Churn Creek in the country of the Fraser River division of the Shushwap. The Thompson Indians said it had been intended for a war ax and accordingly one of them mounted it in a handle. It is now cat. No. 16-9073 in this Museum. Mr. Teit believes the stone to be too heavy for a war club of any kind and that possibly it may originally have been a sinker, although it is chipped more than necessary for the latter. In 1908, he saw a perforated sinker found near the outlet of Kootenay Lake, on the borders of the Lake division of the Colville tribe and the Flat-bow or Kootenay Lake branch of the Kootenay tribe. It was made of a smooth flat water-worn beach pebble 132 mm. long by 75 mm. wide and 25 mm. thick.

The perforation was drilled from both sides near the slightly narrower end and a groove extended from it over the nearest end where it formed a notch somewhat deeper than the groove. Mr. Teit heard that several such sinkers had been picked up around Kootenay Lake and also along the Arrow Lakes of the Columbia River on the borders of the Shushwap and Lake divisions of the Colville tribe.

[68] Teit, (a), Fig. 234.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 15. Sinker, a Grooved Boulder bearing a Design in Intaglio. From Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44536, 9-2. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 16. Sinker, a Perforated Boulder. From Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44535, 9-1. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)]

In the Nez Perce region[69] to the east, no sinkers were used with fish lines, but roughly grooved river boulders were employed as net sinkers.[70] A grooved sinker has been found at Comox, grooved stones which may have been used as sinkers occur at Saanich, on the west coast of Washington and the lower Columbia. On the coast of Washington some of them have a second groove at right angles to the first which in some cases extends only half way around; that is, from the first groove over one end to meet the groove on the opposite side. One of the specimens found at Saanich was of this general type. Perforated specimens have been found in the Fraser Delta,[71] at Comox,[72] at Saanich,[72] Point Gray,[72] Marietta,[72] at Gray's Harbor and in the Lower Columbia Valley. On the whole, however, sinkers are much more numerous in the Yakima region than on the Coast. The fish bones which were found, as mentioned under resources, tend to corroborate the theory that the notched, grooved and perforated pebbles were net sinkers and that the bone barbs were for harpoons used in fishing.

[69] Spinden, p. 210.

[70] Spinden, pp. 188 and 211.

[71] Smith, (a), Fig. 22.

[72] Smith, (b), p. 311, 338, 362, 369.

_Sh.e.l.l Heaps._ Small heaps of fresh water clam sh.e.l.ls, as before mentioned among the resources of the region on p. 22, were seen; but these being only about five feet in diameter and two or three inches thick are hardly comparable to the immense sh.e.l.l heaps of the coast.

These fresh water sh.e.l.ls were probably secured from the river near by, where such mollusks now live. Sh.e.l.l fish probably formed only a small part of the diet of the people although dried sea clams may have been secured from the coast by bartering. The objects made of sea sh.e.l.l mentioned among the resources of this region as probably secured from the coast through channels of trade, suggest that the same method was employed for obtaining certain food products from a distance. In fact, Lewis and Clark inform us that the tribes of this general region carried on considerable trade with those of the lower Columbia. Sh.e.l.l heaps of this character, however, are found in the Nez Perce region. Spinden[73]

states that no sh.e.l.l heaps except of very small size are found, but occasionally those of a cubic foot or more in size are seen in the loamy banks of the rivers, noting a few near the junction of the South and Middle forks of Clearwater River, and also near the confluence of the North fork with the Clearwater. These seem to be the remains of single meals that had been buried or cast into holes.

[73] Spinden, p. 177.

_Digging Sticks._ The gathering of roots is suggested by the presence of digging stick handles. One of these (Fig. 126) is made of the horn of a rocky mountain sheep and was secured from an Indian woman living near Union Gap below Old Yakima. The perforation, near the middle of one side for the reception of the end of the digging stick, is nearly square but has bulging sides and rounded corners. The smaller end of the object is carved, apparently to represent the head of an animal. Similar handles, some of them of wood, others of antler and with perforations of the same shape, were seen in Mr. Janeck's collection. It will be remembered that such digging stick handles made of antler were found in the Thompson River region among both archaeological finds and living natives,[74] the archaeological specimens being of antler, the modern handles of wood or horn.

[74] Smith, (d), p. 137; (c), p. 411; Teit, (a), p. 231.

The digging stick was one of the most necessary and characteristic implements of the Nez Perce region to the east, the handle consisting of a piece of bone or horn perforated in the middle for the reception of the end of the digging stick, or, according to Spinden, an oblong stone with a transverse groove in the middle lashed at right angles to the stick.[75] No archaeological specimens which are certainly digging stick handles were found on the coast.

No sap sc.r.a.pers such as were collected in the Thompson River region[76]

were identified and they have not been recognized among specimens from the coast.

[75] Spinden, p. 200. Fig. 33, Plate VII.