The Kalapuya of the Willamette Valley to the southwest, buried their
dead in the earth. One writer described the process as follows:--"When
the grave was dug they placed slabs on the bottom and sides, and when
they had lowered the wrapped body down, placed another over, resting on
the side ones, and filled in the earth."[413] The account does not seem
to indicate whether these slabs were of wood or stone, but in either
case there is a certain similarity to the graves with the stone cyst
found near Tampico.
[413] Lewis, p. 178; Galschet, p. 86; American Antiquarian, IV,
1882, p. 331.
A grave which may be of this type, found about two and one half miles
south of Fort Simcoe was reported to me by Mrs. Lynch who furnished the
following information about it. It was on a low ridge with the usual
cairn of rocks about three feet high covering it. This cairn was made up
of two distinct layers of rocks, both lying above the contents of the
grave which included the skeleton of an adult man estimated to be at
least six feet tall and that of a child about six to eight years of age,
according to identifications made by the physician of the United States
Indian service stationed at Fort Simcoe. The man's skull which was well
preserved though brittle, was found four feet below the ground or
approximately seven feet below the top of the cairn and on the eastern
side of the grave. The pelvis of the child was completely decayed, and
few of the bones were intact except the maxilla which was found in the
western part of the grave between the patellæ of the man. Near them were
found four "links" [beads] of a copper necklace. The maxilla was deeply
copper-stained. The steatite ornament shown in Fig. 119 was found on the
man's manubrium.
_Rock-slide Graves._ The rock-slides on the hill and canon sides as in
the region to the north had frequently been used as burial places. The
graves are found from top to bottom. Some of them seem very old. Others
were proven to be recent by the character of the objects found in them.
The skeletons were in or on the ground and the rocks of the slide had
been piled or caused to slide over them (Fig. 1, Plate VIII).[414] The
skeleton was buried from one to five, six or even ten feet deep. In some
cases, the rocks seemed to have sunk as the body decayed, in others they
formed a pile as if placed there to mark the grave. Some graves were
marked with sticks (Fig. 3, Plate VI). In others, probably always the
older graves, sticks were not seen having doubtless decayed. One of the
graves found rifled 75 feet above the little flat at the edge of the
north side of the Naches River about a mile and a half above its mouth,
seemed to lie walled up with rocks like a well and slabs of a broken
canoe, part of which had been thrown out surrounded a few of the
disturbed bones. The skeletons were always in a flexed position (Fig. 2,
Plate VIII) and objects were found to have been placed in some of these
graves.
[414] See Museum negative no. 44513, 7-3, from the south in base of
rock-slide on the north side of the Yakima River about a mile below
the mouth of the Naches River, see p. 15.
Spinden states that cemeteries are readily located by the heaps of
"river-worn or rock-slide boulders" piled over the graves in the Nez
Perce country.[415] They are usually on the first bench above the river
bottom and are found near the traditional village sites, from which they
can be seen. The more common method of disposing of the dead there, was
by burial in the ground, especially on stony hillsides, and covering the
graves with stones to keep off the wild animals. This seems to have been
the prevailing method throughout the whole Columbia region of which this
is a part.[416] Rock-slide graves were sometimes made in basaltic cliffs
in the Nez Perce region. One of these is known to have been used in
recent times from the presence of a Lewis and Clark medal,[417] and
graves marked by pieces of upright cedar and covered by large piles of
stone are reported by Spinden on the east bank of the Snake River,
beside the mouth of the Grande Ronde.[418]
[415] Spinden, p. 181.
[416] Lewis, p. 190; Lewis and Clark. IV, pp. 366-7, 371, V, p. 99;
Ross, (a), pp. 320-321; Cox, p. 105; Douglas, p. 339; Gibbs, (a), p.
405.
[417] Spinden, p. 181.
[418] Spinden, pp. 181 and 252.
Indian graves filled up with stones are numerous in the vicinity of the
several remains (pp. 29, 54 and 82) near Mr. Turner's home, according to
Mr. J. S. Cotton. Mr. Turner told him that all the graves that had been
excavated contained bones in a greatly decayed condition, which
suggested to him that they were very old. These graves, like the other
remains of the vicinity previously mentioned, have been in the same
condition since about 1874.
The terraces mentioned on p. 13 (Fig. 1, Plate VII)[419] may have been
made to facilitate reaching rock-slide graves in the same slide; while
the pits which were found in the slides (Fig. 2, Plate VII)[420] walled
up on the outer sides like balconies, with the rocks that apparently
came both from the pits and the disturbed slide above them, have been
considered as rifled graves or graves from which the burials had been
removed (p. 13).
[419] See Museum negative no. 44520, 7-10, from the southwest, about
a mile above the mouth of the Naches River, (p. 13).
[420] See Museum negative no. 44519, 7-9. The same slide from the
southwest (p. 13).
The following quotation may refer to rock-slide pits:[421] "In the
eastern part of Marion County, Oregon, there stands an isolated and most
strikingly regular and beautiful butte some three hundred feet in height
and covering nearly a section of land. It was fringed about its base, at
the time of which I write, with fir groves, but its sides and well
rounded and spacious top were devoid of timber, except a few old and
spreading oaks, and perhaps a half dozen gigantic firs, whose weighty
limbs were drooping with age. A meridian section line passes over the
middle of this butte, and four sections corner near its top. While
running this line and establishing these corners in 1851, I observed
many semi-circular walls of stone, each enclosing space enough for a
comfortable seat, and as high as one's shoulders when in a sitting
posture, upon cross-sticks as high as the knee ... the older white
residents said the Indians made them, but for what purpose they could
not say. I became a witness to the use, and was particularly impressed
with the fitness for what I saw. Indians from the North and South
traveling that way generally camped upon the banks of the Abiqua Creek,
a rapid stream of pure, cold water, just issued from the mountains upon
the plain. The butte was near, and this they ascended and, taking seats
within the stone sanctuaries, communed in silence with the Great Spirit.
Bowing the head upon the hands and resting them upon the knees for a few
moments, then sitting erect and gazing to the west over the enchanting
valley interspersed with meadow, grove and stream." The author states
that the place is now called Mount Angel, is surmounted by a Roman
Catholic cathedral and that the Indians called this butte
Tap-a-lam-a-ho, signifying Mount of Communion; and the plain to the west
Chek-ta, meaning beautiful or enchanting.
[421] Pp. 35 and 36 of an article entitled "Extract from T. W.
Davenport's, Recollections of an Indian agent (not yet published)."
The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, March, 1904, Vol. V,
No. 1.
Possibly the burials in the domes of volcanic ash and those in the
rock-slides are practically the results of a common motive by the same
people in the same time and the differences may be due simply to the
difference in the character of the near by topography and the relative
convenience of securing the material to cover the graves. This idea is
strengthened by information given me by Mr. W. H. Hindshaw who stated
that from sixteen to thirty miles above the mouth of the Snake River
where it cuts through canons there are rock burial heaps immediately
above flood level and burials in the flood sand below, both of which he
found to contain human bones and implements. He also stated that graves
are found on the bluff overlooking the river. One was curbed with the
remains of a cedar canoe. The grave had a bottom of plank and a cover
over the body--that of a small child--which was wrapped in a fur,
apparently a beaver skin. There were a number of beads and brass buttons
and a large fragment of the shell of the _Schizothoerus nuttallii_ which
must have come from the coast.
_Cremation Circles._ Rings of stones (Fig. 1, Plate IX)[422] were also
seen and on excavation within them cremated human remains were found
usually several in each circle. In some cases the ring was irregular and
in others assumed the form of a rectangle. None of them are known to be
recent. In such places, dentalium shells, flat shell beads, and shell
ornaments were usually seen. Mr. Teit says that rings of stones were
also put on top of graves in the Thompson River region. Along the
Columbia, below the mouth of the Snake River, vaults or burial houses
like those found among the Upper Chinook were used.[423] A somewhat
similar method was observed even among the Nez Perce.[424] This suggests
that the cremation circles here described, may be the caved-in remains
of earth-covered burial lodges built somewhat on the plan of the
semi-subterranean winter houses.
[422] Museum negative no. 44493, 5-6 of circle no. 14 from the east
on the terrace northwest of the junction of the Yakima and the
Naches Rivers (p. 15 and 157). Cf. also Museum negative no. 44522,
7-2.
[423] Cf. Lewis, p. 190; Lewis and Clark, II, pp. 139-140.
[424] Lewis and Clark, IV, p. 369; Lewis, p. 190.
_Position of the Body._ In all the old graves the skeletons were flexed
and usually on the side (Plate VIII, Fig. 2).[425] The graves where the
body was buried at length with the feet to the east were doubtless
recent and probably placed that way due to the teachings of Christians.
In the Nez Perce region to the east, the body was placed in a variety of
positions, either flexed or at length[426] and sometimes upon the side.
Considering the difference between the costume and objects used by the
men and those by the women, in the Nez Perce region to the east,[427] it
would seem that the contents of the graves in this near by region may be
used to check the determination of the sex of the skeletons.
[425] Museum negative no. 44516, 7-6, see grave no. 22, p. 160.
[426] Spinden, pp. 182 and 252.
[427] Cf. Spinden, p. 216.
_Property with the Dead._ Objects are usually found with the remains of
the dead in all classes of old burials but some of the graves contained
nothing; others very little. There was apparently no radical difference
in the character of the material in the graves in volcanic domes and
those in the rock-slides; but the more modern rock-slide graves seemed,
on the whole, to contain a greater number of objects than the older
graves or the graves in domes. On the coast, objects are found with
recent burials, but rarely in ancient graves. The cremation circles
often contained dentalium shells and bits of shell objects but little
else. In the Nez Perce region to the east a considerable amount of
property, ornaments and utensils is found buried with the dead.[428]
[428] Spinden, pp. 182 and 252.
_Horse Sacrifices._ We discovered no graves containing horse bones or
over which a skeleton of a horse was found, although it will be
remembered that such were found in the Nez Perce region east of
here.[429] There, the killing of horses over the graves of their owners
became the usual practice when horses were plentiful. Sometimes a horse
was buried over the body.[430] In this region, however, we found no
evidences of the horse in connection with the graves other than the
presence of an old Spanish bit in one of the more recent burials.
[429] Spinden, p. 182.
[430] Spinden, p. 252.
_Diseases._ Out of about seventeen complete skeletons and six skulls
secured in this region by our party those of two children (99-4323,
99-4326) and two adults, one of which was apparently a female (99-4336),
exhibited anchylosis of some of the vertebrae. The left ankle bones of
the other skeleton (99-4327) showed anchylosis with the tibia and one of
the ribs was abnormal. The skeleton of a young child (99-4329) with
persistent frontal suture, an example of retarded development was also
found.[431]
[431] Cf. Wounds, p. 82.
CONCLUSION.
The connection, nay partial identity, of this culture with that of the
Thompson River region in the southern interior of British Columbia is
supported by considerable evidence. Small heaps of fresh-water clam
shells are found in both regions. The preponderance of chipped points
over those ground out of stone, bone and antler; the presence of digging
stick handles; pestles with flaring bodies and no striking heads, others
with tops in the form of animal heads; celts; the sites of cache pits,
of circular summer lodges marked by rings of stones; and of
semi-subterranean houses with stones on the encircling ridge; pairs of
arrow-shaft smoothers, and bone tubes, were all found to be common to
both regions. The simple pipe bowl found here, although with one
exception not found among archaeological objects in the Thompson area is
commonly used by the present Indians there. Tubular pipes, modern copper
tubes or beads, incised designs consisting of a circle with a dot in it
and engraved dentalium shells, each of a particular kind, besides
pictographs in red, rock-slide sepulchres, modern graves walled up with
parts of canoes, the marking of recent graves with sticks, and the
custom of burying artifacts with the dead were also found to be common
to both areas. Perforated slate tablets of gorget-form are unknown in
both regions. Circles of stones which mark places where cremated human
remains were found in this region sometimes indicate graves in the
Thompson River region.
Frazer[432] mentions meeting Yakima Indians in the Lillooet Valley which
shows that they travelled even beyond the Thompson River country and
readily accounts for the dissemination of cultural elements.
[432] Fraser, p. 175.
On the other hand, many differences in culture are observable. Thus
objects made of nephrite and mica which occur, the former being common
in the Thompson River valley, were not found in the Yakima area.
Quarries and terraced rock-slides such as were seen here are not known
to us in the Thompson River region. The bone of the whale occasionally
found in the Thompson River country is lacking in Yakima collections.
That glassy basalt was not the chief material for chipped implements, as
it was in the Thompson River region, is probably due to the scarcity of
this material and its use is perhaps as rare in the Yakima valley as on
the coast. Chipped implements were made of a greater variety of stone
than in the interior of British Columbia, and a greater proportion were
of the more beautifully colored materials. No harpoon points made of a
unio (?) shell, such as the object found in the Thompson River region or
other objects made of such a shell, were seen. Notched sinkers and large
grooved sinkers were more commonly found than in the Thompson Valley,
while sap scrapers which were common there, were not found in the Yakima
district. A great number of pestles made from short cylindrical pebbles,
forming a type rather rare in the Thompson River region; many long
pestles, of which only four or five have been found in interior British
Columbia; and one with a zigzag design not represented among the finds
from that region, were found in the Yakima area. Saucer-shaped
depressions marking summer lodge sites were not noted by the writer.
Clubs made of stone were more numerous and all are of a different type.
Clubs or other objects made of the bone of the whale or drilled pendants
either circular or elongated were not found. Petroglyphs, pictographs
in white, and representations of feather headdresses were not found
among the archaeological objects in the Thompson region. Graves in
knolls, some with a cyst made of thin slabs of stones constitute another
distinct trait of the Yakima area.
There is relatively less evidence of contact with the prehistoric people
of Puget Sound and the Pacific coast of Washington, and of southern
British Columbia. Several kinds of sea shells, including dentalium,
haliotis and pectunculus, which must have come from the coast, were
found in the Yakima Valley. Small points chipped from beautiful material
found in this region were occasionally seen on the coast, more
particularly south of Puget Sound. Glassy basalt was used here perhaps
about as much as on the coast. Net sinkers are also about as common here
as on the coast from Gray's Harbor southward. The pestles found in the
vicinity of Vancouver Island are similar to some of the short pestles
found in the Yakima region. Short tubular pipes are found on the coast
in the vicinity of the Saanich Peninsula and the Lower Frazer. The pipe
previously described as clearly representative of the art of the
Northwest coast must have been brought from there or made by a coast
artist, not by one merely familiar with the art of the coast. A portion
of the material indicative of coast culture that was found in the Yakima
Valley may have come up the Cowlitz and down the Toppenish River.
The similarities mentioned are, however, outweighed by marked
differences. Large shell heaps--the chief feature of Coastal
archaeology--have not been found in the Yakima area, while quarries are
unknown to us on the coast. Objects made of nephrite and whale's bone
are lacking in the Yakima Valley. A very great number of points rubbed
out of slate and bone are found on the coast, but none rubbed out of
slate and only a few rubbed out of bone have been found on Yakima sites.
Net sinkers are much more common than on the coast, where they are
plentiful only from Gray's Harbor southward and in the Lower Columbia
Valley. Long pestles with the tops carved to represent animal heads are
distinctive of the Yakima area, while cylindrical pebbles used as
pestles but slightly changed from the natural form, which are quite
common in the Yakima Valley, are rarely found in the Coast country. One
style of club made of stone commonly found in this vicinity has not been
seen anywhere on the coast, although some clubs made of stone are like
specimens from that region. Perforated slate tablets like Coastal
gorgets are unknown to us from the Yakima area. Cairns common on the
coast are not found in the Yakima country, while the reverse holds true
of rock-slide burials. Graves in knolls are unknown on the Pacific, and
artifacts are often found in the Yakima graves but they seldom, if ever,
occur with ancient burials on the coast.
Much of the material from the Yakima region resembles that which I have
seen from the general area including the Columbia Valley between
Umatilla and The Dalles, and possibly extending further down the valley.
There seems to be a greater similarity of the art products of the Yakima
to those of the Thompson River region than to those of the Columbia
Valley below the mouth of the Snake, so far as we understand the latter
region at this time, and this according to Lewis[433] is certainly not
contrary to the belief in an earlier occupancy of this region by the
Salish. The culture here resembles that of the Nez Perce region to the
east in that a considerable variety of material was used for chipped
implements.[434]
[433] Lewis, p. 196.
[434] Spinden, p. 181.
Inter-tribal trade may have been a factor in the production of some
observed similarities. It was seen that pipes of three types, one of
which is found as far east as the Dakota, another as far north as the
Thompson River country, and a third as far west as the Queen Charlotte
Islands are all found in this region. It is clear that the ancient
people from the Yakima region had extensive communications not only with
the region southward as far as The Dalles, but also northward, as far as
the more distant Thompson River tribes. If the products of the sea found
in this region came up the Columbia, as may be inferred from Lewis,[435]
it is a good illustration of how trade as a rule, follows the line of
least physical resistance; although the migrations of the tribes do not
always follow such lines because the lines of trade as a rule are
thickly populated by people who resist the migration of their neighbors.
Lewis[436] states that from the coast inward there was only one trade
route of importance in the Washington-Oregon-Idaho region and this led
up the Columbia River to The Dalles where was found the greatest trade
center in the whole region and whither the tribes were wont to come from
the north and south as well as from the east.[437] Klamath,[438] Cayuse,
Nez Perce, Walla Walla and other Sahaptin and probably Salish tribes
were all in the habit of going there to traffic. He also states that
further east, the Sahaptin in their turn, traded with the Shoshone from
whom they obtained buffalo robes and meat. The center for this trade at
least in later times was the Grande Ronde in eastern Oregon;[439] but
this later center probably came into being after the advent of the
horse. The Okanogan are known to have crossed the mountains to Puget
Sound to trade wild hemp for sea shells especially dentalia as well as
for other small objects.[440] The Yakima also in later times crossed the
mountains and traded with Puget Sound tribes according to Gibbs,[441]
but if this trade were carried on in earlier times its effect in the
Yakima Valley seems to have been slight as indicated by the few
dentalium shells, the shell pendants shown in Figs. 87-94 and the pipe
of coast art, shown in Fig. 127. It is possible that this trade with the
coast became customary only after the horse was introduced. There was a
considerable amount of trade between the Yakima and the Thompson River
and other tribes of British Columbia which was carried on chiefly
through the Okanogan.[442] Lewis[443] states that the Walla Walla who
lived to the south of the Yakima at least in later times visited as far
north as the Thompson River region, and that certain Sahaptin tribes
seem to have moved northward and westward and forced back the Salish
tribes which at the time of Lewis and Clark's visit were on the north
bank of the Columbia and on its tributaries.[444] These tribes were
particularly the Klickitat and the Yakima, an assumption which Lewis
states is supported by the definite assertions of the natives
themselves. A number of old men positively assured Dr. Suckley that they
had pushed their way into the country formerly occupied by the
Salish.[445] The Klickitat, although living in a well wooded region on
the southern slopes of Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens are thought to have
been driven by the Cayuse from their earlier home which was further east
and south. Later, they went further west into the Cowlitz Valley.[446]
This may account for the circular pit surrounded by an embankment which
I saw near Rochester in Thurston County and interpreted as the remains
of a semi-subterranean winter house site. Lewis also states that the
Yakima probably lived on the Columbia near the mouth of the river which
now bears their name, and are in fact so located by Cox who places them
on the north and east side of the Columbia. The pressure of neighboring
tribes caused by the coming of the white race no doubt facilitated the
adoption of new cultural details.
[435] Lewis, p. 193.
[436] Lewis, p. 193.
[437] Lewis and Clark, IV, p. 286; Ross, (b), p. 117.
[438] Gatschet, p. 93.
[439] Wilkes, IV, p. 394.
[440] Ross, (a), p. 290; (b), I, p. 44.
[441] Gibbs, (a), p. 408.
[442] Cf. Teit, (a), p. 258.
[443] Lewis, pp. 194-5.
[444] Lewis and Clark, VI, pp. 115 and 119; Mooney, pp. 734-736.
[445] Gibbs, (b), p. 224.
[446] Swan, p. 323.