Scientific American Supplement pp. 23876-8, Vol. LVIII, No. 1490,
July 23, 1904 and in Records of the Past, l. c.; The Saturday
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 alæ 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 illustrated[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 apron. 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 knob. 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 spaces 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 knob 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.
[Illustration: 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.)]
[Illustration: 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.]
[Illustration: 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.)]
[Illustration: 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 knob shown in Fig. 35 (p. 47) is interpreted as
representing a snake's head. The heart-shaped knob 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.
[398] Spinden, Plate IX, Fig. 19.
[399] Smith, (c), Fig. 341a; Teit, (a), Fig. 295.
[Illustration: Fig. 124. Fragment of a Sculpture with Hoof-like part.
From Pasco. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the
collection of Mr. Owen.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 125. Sculptured Animal Form made of Lava. From an
Indian who claimed to have found it in a grave on the Yakima Reservation
two miles below Union Gap below Old Yakima. 1/2 nat. size. (Drawn from
photographs 44452, 2-1, 44455, 2-4, and 44503, 6-4. Original catalogue
No. 36 in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)]
Fig. 124 illustrates a fragment of sculpture from Pasco. It is
hoof-shaped and is here reproduced from a sketch of the original in the
collection of Mr. Owen. The sculptured animal form made of lava shown in
Fig. 125 which was mentioned on p. 38, bears a mortar or dish in its
back. It is a good example of an art form which has been specialized so
that it may be used or at least so that the useful part is less
prominent than the animal figure. It has been sculptured by pecking. The
raised eyes are almond-shaped rather than elliptical, and the ears are
indicated by raised places on the transverse ridge at the top of the
head. The mid-rib or dewlap under the chin is about 6 mm. wide and of
the three transverse grooves in this, only the upper one is deep. The
tail is slightly under cut. The grooves are all more or less colored
with vermilion, apparently a mineral paint and consequently sufficiently
lasting so that we need not consider even the painting as necessarily
modern. The general form and especially the four elephantine legs remind
us of a somewhat similar animal form with a dish in its back found in a
shell heap in the delta of the Fraser River[400] and the animal form
with the dish in its back resembles slightly carvings found in the
Lillooet Valley[401] and the Thompson River region.
[400] Smith, (a), Fig. 56.
[401] Teit, (b), Fig. 97.
The pipe made of steatite shown in Fig. 128[402] illustrates the modern
type of carving in soft, easily cut stone, as well as the style of white
metal inlaying employed here during recent years. In this case, the
inlaying is nearly bilaterally symmetrical as may be seen by comparing
Fig. 128a with the outlines in _c_ and _d_. The carving is not
symmetrical, the human form holding a fish-like form appearing on one
side only, while the rear figure evidently represents a turtle which
animal is found in the valley. The other two figures are not easily
identified but the forward one perhaps represents a dog, the white metal
inlay on it possibly representing a harness, but as likely was merely
for decoration. The figure on the base of the pipe might represent a
lizard or any quadruped with a long tail. This form and the way it is
represented as clinging to the cylindrical part of the pipe at least
remind us of similar forms seen on totem poles in the region from Puget
Sound to Victoria.[403] The technique is rather crude and the style of
art does not closely resemble that of the coast, but reminds us of
certain sculptures found on pipes and on the carved wooden stems of
pipes in the Plains where this particular shape of pipe is much more
common than here.
[402] First figured on p. 283, Archaeology of the Yakima Valley by
Harlan I. Smith, Washington Magazine, June, 1906.
[403] Cf. also Smith, (b), Fig. 185a.
[Illustration: Fig. 126 (202-8121). Handle of Digging Stick made of Horn
of Rocky Mountain Sheep. From an Indian woman living near Union Gap
below Old Yakima. 1/4 nat. size.]
In Fig. 105 is illustrated a fragment of a sculptured tubular pipe made
from steatite by cutting or scratching and drilling the soft material
rather than by pecking. It was apparently intended to represent an
anthropoid form. The mouth is indicated by an incision, the other
features of the head are more difficult to determine, but both the arm
and the leg stand out in high relief. As previously suggested on p. 111,
this style of art slightly resembles that found in the region from the
Lillooet Valley to the Lower Willamette and as far east at least as The
Dalles.[404] It is possible that some of the sculptures found in the
Thompson River region[405] adjoining the Lillooet Valley on the east and
the Yakima region on the north, may be somewhat related to the style of
art of this fragmentary pipe. The human form shown in Fig. 121 has been
discussed on p. 127 as it is incised rather than carved in the round.
Clark mentions a "malet of stone curiously carved,"[406] which he says
was used by the Indians near the mouth of the Snake River and Eells[407]
mentions two stone carvings from the general area of which this is a
part which he describes as horses' heads. If this interpretation be
correct, the carvings are evidently modern. The fish form shown in Fig.
119 has been mentioned on p. 127.
[404] Teit, (b), Figs. 68 and 95-97; Smith, (d), Fig. 183 and
especially Figs. 195b and 198.
[405] Smith, (d), Fig. 113; (b), Fig. 185a.
[406] Lewis and Clark, III, p. 124.
[407] Eells, p. 293.
[Illustration: Fig. 127. Pipe made of Stone. From a hillside grave on
Toppenish Creek near Fort Simcoe. Collected by Mrs. Lynch. 1/2 nat.
size. (Now in the collection of Mr. George G. Heye, New York.)]
The very form of the pestle shown in Fig. 34 and the symmetrical outline
of the club shown in Fig. 62 are in themselves somewhat artistic, while
the fact that the pipe shown in Fig. 113 somewhat represents a tomahawk
or hatchet suggests that it may have been sculptured as representative
art. It seems likely that it was modelled after the metal tomahawk pipe
introduced by the traders which of course would indicate that it was
recently made.
[Illustration: Fig. 128. Sculptured and Inlaid Pipe made of Steatite
with Wooden Stem. From Chief Moses of the Yakima Region. 1/2 nat. size.
(Drawn from photograph 44508, 6-9, 6-10, 6-11. Original in the
collection of Mrs. Lynch.)]
_Coast Art._ The pipe shown in Fig. 127 which was mentioned on p. 116 is
clearly of the art of the northwest coast. It must have been brought to
this region from as far at least, as the Kwakiutl and Haida region, and
may be the work of an artist from that part of the coast, on Vancouver
Island, north of Comox. Although in a fragmentary condition, this
sculpture exhibits an excellent technique of its style of art. Astride
of the stem is a human figure with the left hand to the chest, and the
right one resting on the right knee. The head is missing, the chest
muscular. The other end of the pipe apparently represents the thunder
bird. The head and most of the figure are bilaterally symmetrical. The
beak is cut off in such a manner as to form a flat surface at the tip.
The feathers of the rear portion of the left wing extend in a different
direction from those on the tip, while those of the right wing are
parallel with those on the rear part of the left wing. The lower side or
tail of this bird figure is broken off, but it probably extended to the
broken place shown at the neck of the human face on the base of the
pipe. In it, may be seen a groove, the half of a longitudinal
perforation which does not connect with the pipe bowl. The carving on
the right side of the pipe bowl, the top of which is broken away, is
practically the same as that on the left, while the base is carved to
represent a human head.
METHOD OF BURIAL.
In ancient times, there were three principal methods of disposing of the
dead: in graves in domes of volcanic ash, in rock-slide graves, and in
cremation circles. In all of these they were covered with stones.[408]
Detailed descriptions of the graves explored by us, are given in the
appendix. There are also burials covered with pebbles, some of which may
be old; and recent graves (p. 20), where the bodies were apparently
buried at length with the feet to the east, and both head and foot
marked by a stake, the one at the head being the larger. Simple graves
in the level ground known to be old were not found. Gibbs saw bodies
wrapped in blankets and tied upright to tree trunks at some distance
above the ground near the mouth of the Okanogan River.[409]
[408] Cf. also Yarrow, p. 178; Gibbs, (b), p. 201.
[409] Gibbs, (a), p. 413.
_Burials in Domes of Volcanic Ash._ In this arid region are stretches of
country locally known as 'scab land,' on which are occasionally groups
of low dome-shaped knolls from about fifty to one hundred feet in
diameter, by three to six feet in height.[410] These knolls consist of
fine volcanic ash, and apparently have been left by the wind because
held in place by roots of sage brush and other vegetation. This ashy
material has been swept from the intervening surface leaving the 'scab
land' paved with fragments of basalt imbedded in a hard soil. The
prehistoric Indians of this region, have used many of these knolls, each
as a site for a single grave (Fig. 2, Plate IX).[411] These graves,
which are located in the tops of the knolls, are usually marked by large
river pebbles, or, in some cases, by fragments of basalt that appear as
a circular pavement projecting slightly above the surface of the soil.
None of them are known to be recent. On the other hand, there is no
positive evidence of their great antiquity. In these we sometimes find a
box or cyst. This box (Plate X) was formed of thin slabs of basaltic
rock some placed on edge and large flat slabs covering the cyst so
formed. Above this, as was usually the case, above the skeletons in this
kind of grave, the space was filled with irregular rocks or pebbles. The
rocks and cyst were entirely different from those of the cairns of the
coast of Washington and British Columbia.[412] The skeletons were found
flexed, on the side. In the graves, artifacts such as dentalium shells
were deposited at the time of burial.
[410] See Museum negative nos. 44442, 1-3, and 44496, 5-9.
[411] See Museum negative no. 44497, 5-10, taken from the north of
east. See also pp. 17 and 161. First mentioned in Smith, (g), VI.