Part 14

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.

_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.

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.

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.

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.

_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.

[412] See Smith and Fowke.

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.