The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley Part 5

[98] Museum negative no. 44454, 2-3.

The specimen shown in Fig. 27 was found in a grave with beads and resembles the typical pestles of Lytton except that it has no nipple on the top, which is of the shape of the tops of the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island. Another of nearly the same shape but less regular was found on the surface of the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima. A third specimen 234 mm. long, also found within the above mentioned limits, is made of a concavely flaring pebble. A groove is pecked part way around near the top as if to carve the k.n.o.b and begin the reduction of the top of the shaft. There is also a pecked surface on one side near the base, apparently the beginning of an attempt to form a striking head by first removing irregularities. The one shown in Fig. 28 was found within eight miles of North Yakima and is of rather unusual shape, having a short striking head of the shape of the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island. The slightly bulging body and exceedingly small, nearly flat k.n.o.b at the top are entirely different from those of the pestles usually found in any of this area, or the country adjacent to it on the north and west. These four specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[99]

[99] Museum negative no. 44454, 2-3.

There are found in the Nez Perce region[100] short pestles with dome-shaped tops, cylindrical bodies and rather long striking heads of the form of triangular or quadrangular prisms with rounded corners slightly larger at the top than at the bottom[101] and such pestles with hat-shaped tops, although one has a flat top, slightly expanding shafts and long striking heads, larger at the top than at the bottom.

[100] Cf. Spinden, Figs. 11, 19, 21, 23, Plate VI; also Plate VIII, Figs. 10, 11.

[101] Spinden, p. 186, Plate VIII, Fig. 9.

Fig. 29 is the first of those showing the longer type of pestle from the Yakima region. This specimen was found at Satus on the Yakima Reservation near Old Yakima and is in the collection of Mr. York. The top is somewhat spherical and the body elongated. Its conoid shape may cla.s.s it with the one shown in Fig. 24. It somewhat reminds us of the pestles of the Santa Catalina Islands of California, but until we have a more definite knowledge of the forms in the vast intervening area, this resemblance must be considered as merely a coincidence, especially since long simple conoid pestles are found in the Nez Perce region to the east.[102] A somewhat similar pestle in Mr. York's collection is 408 mm. long, and has a tapering body, circular in sections, a k.n.o.b at the top about the size of the base and a convex striking face. It was found at Fort Simcoe.

[102] Cf. Spinden, Plate VI, Figs. 8-10, Plate VIII, Fig. 6.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26. Pestle made of Stone. From Yakima River five miles below Old Yakima. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. York.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27. Pestle made of Stone. From a grave in the Yakima Valley. About 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44454, 2-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28. Pestle made of Stone. From the surface in the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima. About 1/2 nat. size.

(Drawn from photograph 44454, 2-3. Original in the collection of Mr.

Janeck.)]

The pestle shown in Fig. 30 is made of sandstone, was found at Priest Rapids and is in the collection of Mrs. Hinman. The shaft is a long cylinder, expanding somewhat towards the base which is only slightly convex. Like the preceding, it has no striking head. It has a hemispherical top, is unusually large and is decorated with an encircling line of circles and dots. There is also a circle and dot in the top. This decoration is again mentioned in the consideration of art on p. 130.[103]

[103] Museum negative no. 44537, 9-3.

The pestle shown in Fig. 31 is 355 mm. long. It has a conoid body perhaps more p.r.o.nounced than the one shown in Fig. 29 but much less typical than the one shown in Fig. 24. The top is apparently intended to represent an animal head. It is made of very hard breccia and well polished. At each side of the lower part of the body is a design made by four parallel zigzag grooves, further discussed on p. 132. It was found in the Yakima Valley, and is in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[104] A pestle figured by Spinden, as from the Nez Perce Indians,[105] is somewhat similar to this in that it has a k.n.o.b protruding slightly to one side, but there is a notch or groove made longitudinally in the top of this k.n.o.b.

[104] Museum negative no. 44502, 6-3.

[105] Spinden, Fig. 7, Plate VIII.

The pestle shown in Fig. 32 might perhaps be considered as a war club.

It was found at Priest Rapids and is in the collection of Mr. Mires. The top is somewhat flat and smoothed. There is a groove around the specimen near this end. From here it constricts gradually to the lower end which is broken off. It was made from a triangular piece of gray basalt, probably a column, the natural angles and parts of the faces of which have been reduced by pecking.[106]

[106] Museum negative no. 44534, 8-12.

The specimen shown in Fig. 33 from the Yakima Valley, is in the collection of Mr. Janeck and is 630 mm. long. The top apparently represents an animal head indicated by three nipples the larger of which is interpreted as representing the nose, the others as indicating the ears. The body is of circular cross section and expands evenly to a cylindrical striking head 70 mm. in diameter by 76 mm. long.[107]

[107] Museum negative no. 44502, 6-3.

A long pestle with a k.n.o.b at the top which is divided into four pyramidal or dome-shaped nipples was found at Five Mile Rapids on Snake River and was seen in Mr. Owen's collection. The next figure represents a stone pestle of somewhat similar shape but more specialized. It was found in the Yakima Valley and is in the collection of Mr. Janeck. It is 590 mm. long. The top is roughly the form of the fustrum of a cone, being circular in cross section and gradually expanding downward, but it is somewhat celt-shaped, the sides for some distance being ground off nearly flat. They approach each other more closely towards the front than they do towards the back. In each of these surfaces there is an incision which represents one side of an animal's mouth and a pecked dot indicating an eye. The tip of the nose is broken off. Across the curved part behind the flat surfaces or on the back of this animal head are four incisions. Below this portion the object is circular in section until near its middle, or 178 mm. from the top, where there is a band roughly sub-pentagonal in section with rounded corners 88 mm. long.

Following this band it is nearly cylindrical, being 57 mm. in diameter for 178 mm. until it expands suddenly into the striking head which is unusually bulging, 108 mm. long by 64 mm. in diameter.[108]

[108] Museum negative no. 44502, 6-3.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 29. Pestle made of Stone. From Satus on the Yakima Reservation near Old Yakima. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch.

Original in the collection of Mr. York.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 30. Pestle made of Sandstone. 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. 31. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley.

1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]

The object 498 mm. long shown in Fig. 35 is made of steat.i.te, material seemingly unsuited by its softness for a pestle, and may possibly be a war club. Mr. McCandless, in whose collection it is, calls the material a soft sandstone which he says is found at the head of the Wenatchie River. He says the specimen is from Lake Chelan and that he obtained it from a man above Wenatchie on the Columbia River. This man told him that he secured it from Chief Moses' tribe on Lake Chelan, and that the Indians there call it a war club and a family heirloom. The upper end is of the form of a truncated pyramid with two flat sides, two bulging edge's and rounded corners. It shows peck marks and is engraved as described under art, on p. 124, and is said by the Indians to represent the head of a snake. The shaft is circular in cross section and gradually enlarges towards the base where it suddenly constricts. The specimen has been polished by the natural sand blast.[109]

[109] Museum negative no. 44507, 6-8.

The noise of the women at one of the Nez Perce villages, pounding roots, reminded Lewis of a nail factory.[110] Beyond the Nez Perce country which bounds this area on the east, according to Spinden,[111] the use of stone pestles disappears until the region of the Great Lakes is reached, but I have seen pestles in collections in Wyoming which are said to have been found in that state.

[110] Lewis and Clark, V, p. 16.

[111] Spinden, p. 187.

_Rollers._ Another cla.s.s of specimens considered as pestles or rollers is shown in Figs. 36 and 37. These do not seem to have been used as pestles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 32. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. 1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44534, 8-12. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 33. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley.

1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 41502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 34. Pestle made of Stone. From the Yakima Valley.

1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44502, 6-3. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 35. Pestle made of Steat.i.te. From Lake Chelan. 1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44507, 6-8. Original in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 36. Pestle or Roller made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. 1/4 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44537, 9-3. Original in the collection of Mrs. Hinman.)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 37 (202-8197). Pestle or Roller made of Stone. From the surface, about one mile east of Fort Simcoe. 1/4 nat. size.]

The one shown in Fig. 36 from Priest Rapids is in the collection of Mrs.

Hinman. The convex ends of this cylindrical form present the natural surface of a pebble and they are not battered. The material is a yellowish quartzite or closely allied rock. It is 457 mm. long, 75 mm.

in diameter and the entire cylindrical surface has been pecked apparently to bring it to form. If it had been used as a pestle the ends would show the signs of battering or grinding. The cylindrical surface does not seem to show any signs of its having been used as a roller or grinder. It may possibly be a pestle in process of manufacture although it seems very strange that so much work should have been expended on the cylindrical surface in a region where natural pebbles very nearly of this shape were common.[112] The specimen shown in Fig.

37 is apparently made of basalt and was found on the surface about a mile east of Fort Simcoe. The ends are considerably chipped and one of them has apparently been somewhat battered since. If the object were used as a pestle the chipping of the ends is unusually great. The cylindrical surface has been formed by pecking except in one place where the natural surface shows. This bit of natural surface is such that it suggests the specimen to have been made of a prismatic basaltic column.

While these two specimens may have been intended for pestles, it seems possible that they were made for rollers. Several such objects made of stone were seen in Mr. Owen's collection. He says that they were used like rolling pins for crushing camas and kouse roots in making bread.

Both of these roots were extensively used in the Nez Perce region to the east.[113]

[112] Museum negative no. 44537, 9-3.

[113] Spinden, pp. 201-203.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 38 (202-8157). Fragment of Hearth of Fire Drill.

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