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.
[Illustration: 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.)]
[Illustration: 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.
_Shell Heaps._ Small heaps of fresh water clam shells, 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 shell heaps of the coast.
These fresh water shells were probably secured from the river near by,
where such mollusks now live. Shell 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 shell
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. Shell heaps of
this character, however, are found in the Nez Perce region. Spinden[73]
states that no shell 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 scrapers 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.
[76] Smith, (c), p. 411.
[Illustration: Fig. 17 (202-8161). Fragment of Coiled Basket of Splint
Foundation and Bifurcated Stitch. From grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide
about half a mile above the mouth of Naches River. 1/2 nat. size.]
_Basketry._ The gathering of berries as well as of roots is suggested by
fragments of baskets which have been found. One of these is shown in
Fig. 17. It was found in grave No. 10 (5) in a rock-slide about a half
mile above the mouth of the Naches River. It is coiled with splint
foundation and bifurcated stitch. Judging from other baskets of the same
kind, it was probably once imbricated. This type of basketry is widely
distributed towards the north and with grass foundation is even found in
Siberia.[77] Commonly the coiled basketry in the Nez Perce region to the
east was made with bifurcated stitch,[78] by means of a sharpened awl
which was the only instrument used in weaving it. Some were imbricated,
although this style has not been made for many years, and only a few of
the older natives remember women who could make them.[79] Some similar
basketry of a finer technique was found with this fragment.
[77] Jochelson, p. 632.
[78] Spinden, p. 194.
[79] Spinden, p. 193.
PREPARATION OF FOOD.
[Illustration: Fig. 18 (202-8394). Fragment of a Mortar made of Stone.
From among covering boulders of grave No. 42 (4) of adult in sand at the
western edge of Columbia River about twelve miles above the head of
Priest Rapids. 1/4 nat. size.]
_Mortars._ Mortars made of stone for crushing food, such as dried
salmon, other meat and berries, were not uncommon in this region and
pestles of the same material were numerous. Flat oval pebbles were found
scattered on the surface of a village site on the west bank of the
Columbia at the head of Priest Rapids, and were probably used as lap
stones or as objects upon which to crush food. A somewhat circular one
(202-8295) about 230 mm. in diameter has a notch, formed by chipping
from one side, opposite one naturally water-worn, which suggests that it
may have been used as a sinker; but it seems more likely that it was
simply an anvil or lap stone. Similar pebbles were used in the Thompson
River region,[80] some of them having indications of pecking or a slight
pecked depression in the middle of one or both sides. In the Nez Perce
region to the east, basketry funnels were used in connection with flat
stones for mortars. These funnels were of rather crude coil
technique.[81] Another specimen (202-8292b) found at the same place is
merely a water-worn boulder somewhat thinner at one end than at the
other, the surface of which apparently has been rubbed from use as a
mortar or milling stone. A few large chips have been broken from the
thinner edge. Still another specimen (202-8294) from here is a fragment
of a pebble only 120 mm. in diameter with a saucer-shaped depression
about 10 mm. deep, in the top.
[80] Smith, (d), p. 139.
[81] Cf. Spinden, p. 194.
[Illustration: Fig. 19. Mortar made of Stone. From the Yakima
Reservation near Union Gap. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44455,
2-4. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]
A somewhat disk-shaped pebble of gray lava 295 mm. in diameter with a
saucer-shaped depression in the top and a large pecked pit in the bottom
(20.0-3344) was collected at Fort Simcoe by Dr. H. J. Spinden. A
fragment of a mortar about 190 mm. in diameter with a nearly flat or
slightly convex base and a depression 50 mm. deep in the top (202-8293)
was found on the surface near the head of Priest Rapids and another
fragment nearly twice as large, the base of which is concave over most
of its surface and shows marks of pecking, apparently the result of an
attempt to make it either quite flat or concave like many other mortars
that have a concavity in each side, is shown in Fig. 18. It was found
among the covering boulders of the grave of an adult, No. 42(4), in the
sand at the western edge of the Columbia River about twelve miles above
the head of Priest Rapids. The mortar shown in Fig. 19, is hollowed in
the top of a symmetrical, nearly circular pebble and has a convex base.
It was found on the Yakima Reservation near Union Gap and is in the
collection of Mr. Janeck.[82] This reminds us of a similar mortar found
in the Thompson River region,[83] but such simple mortars made from
pebbles are rarely found in the Nez Perce region to the east.[84] The
mortar shown in Fig. 20 also from the same place and in the same
collection has a nearly flat base and three encircling grooves.[85]
These grooves find their counterpart in four encircling incisions on the
little mortar found in the Thompson River region.[86]
[82] Museum negative no. 44455. 2-4.
[83] Smith, (c) Fig. 342.
[84] Spinden, Figs. 20 and 22, Plate VI.
[85] Museum negative no. 44455. 4-2.
[86] Smith, (c), Fig. 343.
[Illustration: Fig. 20. Mortar made of Stone. From the Yakima
Reservation near Union Gap. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44455,
2-4. Original in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]
The specimen shown in Fig. 116, which may be considered as a dish rather
than a mortar, was seen in the collection of Mrs. Hinman who obtained it
from Priest Rapids. It is apparently of sandstone, 150 mm. in diameter,
50 mm. high, the upper part being 38 mm. high and of disk shape with
slightly bulging sides which are decorated with incised lines,[87] the
lower part being also roughly disk shaped 64 mm. by 76 mm. in diameter
by about 12 mm. high with slightly convex bottom and edges curved out to
the base of the upper part. There is a disk shaped dish in the top 100
mm. in diameter by 12 mm. in depth.[88]
[87] See p. 125.
[88] Museum negative no. 44537. 9-3.
The animal form shown in Fig. 125 bears a mortar or dish in its back.
The object is 203 mm. in length, 88 mm. high and 113 mm. wide. The
length of the bowl is 88 mm., the width 70 mm., and the depth 38 mm. The
object is made of porous lava and was secured from an Indian who claimed
to have found it in a grave near Fort Simcoe on the Yakima Reservation
two miles below Union Gap which is immediately below Old Yakima.[89]
[89] Here reproduced from photographs 44452, 2-1, 44455, 2-4, and
44503, 6-4 and the original which is catalogue no. 36 in the
collection of Mr. Janeck.
It seems strange that so many of the mortars are broken since they would
be hard to break. It will be remembered that one of the broken mortars
came from a grave and it may be that the others were on or in graves but
had been removed in some way. My general impression is that mortars are
much more numerous among archaeological finds both in this region and in
the interior of British Columbia than on the coast.
_Pestles._ In addition to the probable use of pestles with flat stones
or mortars with basket funnels, some of them, especially where nearly
flat or concave on the striking head as in the Thompson River region to
the north and on the coast may also have been used as hammers for
driving wedges, splitting wood and like industries, if indeed they were
not made solely for the latter uses. Some of the pestles differ from
those found either to the north or on the coast, many of them being much
longer, although Mr. James Teit informs me that very long pestles are
occasionally found in the Thompson River region. He has seen four, and
heard of one or two more. One two feet long was found in the Nicola
Valley about 1905. One of the pestles of the Yakima Valley has a top in
the form of an animal hoof, as is shown in Fig. 124. Others like animal
heads are shown in Figs. 31, 33-35. The range of forms of pestles is
shown in Figs. 21 to 35. The specimens shown in Figs. 22 to 28 inclusive
are apparently all of the shorter type, while those shown in the
remaining figures are variations of the longer type. By far the greater
number of pestles, about forty, are of the type shown in Fig. 21, and of
these two thirds come from the vicinity of Priest Rapids. They are
merely natural pebbles, all more or less of suitable size, shape and
material, which have been used as pestles until one end has become
flattened. Some of them are also flattened on the top, the battered ends
often giving the only indication that they were used. Such as were not
of exactly the right form for grasping have had their excrescences or
the more projecting surfaces removed by pecking. A few of these objects
seem to have been made from small basaltic columns, the corners of which
have been pecked into a more suitable shape. Some of them have been
pecked so that they taper gradually from the small upper end to the
base. The specimen considered as a "slave-killer" and shown in Fig. 69,
may have been used as a pestle. Simple short cylindrical or conoid
pebbles, only slightly changed from their natural form, are used for
pestles in the Nez Perce region to the east.[90]
[90] Cf. Spinden, Figs. 1-4, and 8, Plate VIII.
A pebble 559 mm. long by 152 mm. wide and 114 mm. thick, with rounded
corners and ends, found by Mr. John Lacy near the Yakima River in North
Yakima, has longitudinal grooves pecked in three sides to where they
begin to round over to form the end, and a similar groove, except that
it is only about 101 mm. long, in the middle of the fourth side.[91]
These grooves were probably made as part of a process of grooving and
battering down the intervening ridges in order to bring the specimen
into a desired form. Similarly grooved pebbles found on the northern
part of Vancouver Island were explained to Professor Franz Boas as
having been implements in such process of manufacture. So far as I am
aware, Prof. Boas' announcement of this at a meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science was the first explanation of
the sort of grooving or fluting of specimens found in northwestern
America. One similar large specimen (20.0-3343) found at Lewiston,
Idaho, in the Nez Perce region by Dr. H. J. Spinden, bears two
longitudinally pecked grooves in addition to pecking on much of its
surface. A yellowish gray boulder about 349 mm. long, nearly circular in
sections and with rounded ends, from Priest Rapids, bears a pecked
groove 82 mm. long by 31 mm. wide and 6 mm. deep across the middle of
one side. This may have been made to cut it into the length desired for
a pestle.[92] This specimen is much too large to be considered as the
handle of a digging stick, similar to the object from the Nez Perce
region considered as such by Spinden.[93]
[91] In the collection of Mr. Janeck and Museum negative nos. 44453,
2-2 and 44501, 6-2.
[92] In the collection of Mr. Mires, and Museum negative no. 44534,
8-12.
[93] Cf. Spinden, Plate VII, Fig. 33.
[Illustration: Fig. 21 (202-8281). Pestle made of Stone. From the
surface, near the head of Priest Rapids. 1/2 nat. size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 22 (202-8263). Pestle pecked from Stone. Probably
unfinished. From the surface, near the head of Priest Rapids. 1/4 nat.
size.]
[Illustration: Fig. 23 (202-8399). Pestle pecked from Stone. Probably
unfinished. From the surface, eight miles above the head of Priest
Rapids. 1/2 nat. size.]
The object shown in Fig. 22, one of those from the surface near the head
of Priest Rapids, judging from the battered end, has apparently been
used as a pestle, yet it is still apparently in process of manufacture
into a form somewhat like that shown in Fig. 27. The pecking at the top
is possibly the result of an attempt to remove that portion of the rock,
while the transversely pecked surface seems to be a beginning towards
the formation of the shaft of the pestle, whereas the longitudinal
groove between these two surfaces was necessary to reduce an excrescence
on the rim of what was apparently intended to be the knob at the top of
the pestle. If this supposition be true, when finished, this object
would have a large striking head resembling more in shape and size those
of the pestles of the region near The Dalles than any yet found in this
region. The specimen shown in Fig. 23 is much more clearly an unfinished
pestle. The ends are pecked flat and the entire middle section has been
pecked, apparently to reduce it to the desired size of the shaft. It
seems that the striking head of this specimen, when finished, would be
rather short. It was found on the surface eight miles above the head of
Priest Rapids.
The pestle shown in Fig. 24 has a conoid body with no striking head and
in this respect resembles the pestles of the Thompson River country;[94]
but the top is roughly disk-shaped, being neither hat-shaped nor in the
form of an animal head, as are most pestles of the Thompson region nor
is it exactly of the shape of the typical pestles of northern and
western Vancouver Island.[95] The material is a soft gray stone which
shows the marks of the pecking by means of which it was shaped.
[94] Smith, (c), Fig. 341.
[95] Smith, (b), Fig. _126a_.
[Illustration: Fig. 24. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. 1/2
nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44535, 9-1. Original in the collection
of Mr. Mires.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. 1/2
nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44535, 9-1. Original in the collection
of Mr. Mires.)]
Fig. 25 illustrates a pestle, the top of which is broken off. There are
two grooves encircling the somewhat cylindrical striking head. The
material is a light blue hard porphoritic rock. These two specimens are
from Priest Rapids.[96] The pestle shown in Fig. 26 is from the Yakima
River, five miles below Old Yakima. It has a hat-shaped top and a
cylindrical striking head a little larger at the top than at the bottom,
is somewhat like the typical pestles of the Thompson River region,[97]
and is in the collection of Mr. York. Another has a slightly wider brim
to the hat-shaped top, a body concave in outline and the striking head
is larger at the top than at the bottom, while a third has a medium
sized brim, a body bulging in the middle and a long cylindrical striking
head. The last two specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and
are from the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima.[98]
[96] In the collection of Mr. Mires, and Museum negative no. 44335,
9-1.
[97] Smith, (d), p. 138.
[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 knob 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 knob 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
class 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 knob 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.
[Illustration: 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.)]
[Illustration: 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.)]