202-8139. Some charred and calcined bones of a dog with the joint end of the tibia showing the articulation pulled off as in youth. Ashes and black fine masses resembling pulverized charcoal were found in the bottom of the grave. The human bones found with these were probably of two skeletons, but all were much broken and charred. Some yellow brown mass, composed of rootlets, maggot sacks, etc., was found at the sides of the grave.
202-8140. At the east side of the grave, a large piece of partly charred cedar about 8 inches wide by 2 inches thick was found.
202-8141. Chipped point of obsidian with base broken off, showing that at least some of the contents of the grave were of prehistoric culture.
202-8142. Finely chipped point made of brown chert found in fire refuse of this grave ([Plate II, Fig. 5]).
202-8143. Scorched point made of bone ([Fig. 9]).
202-8144. Part of a point similar to 202-8143 and found with it.
202-8145. Part of a point similar to 202-8143 and found with it.
202-8146. Part of a point similar to 202-8143 and found with it.
202-8147. Tube of rolled brass having the diameter of a lead pencil. Proving this grave to have been made since the prehistoric people were able to reach the whites in trade.
202-8148. Tube similar to 202-8147 ([Fig. 75]).
202-8149. Charred tube made of bone about 1-¼ inches long.
202-8150. Tube similar to 202-8149 ([Fig. 97]).
202-8151. Scorched tube made of bone and ornamented by incisions running from one end to the other in a spiral course. The tube is charred and about 1-¼ inches long ([Fig. 98]).
202-8152. Slate disk perforated in the center and at each side. The object is about 1 inch in diameter and 1/8 inch thick ([Fig. 77]).
Grave No. 2. Rock-slide grave, about 50 feet down the ravine from grave No. 1 and about 40 feet above the flume. It had grass growing in the center. The grave seemed caved in and as if thoroughly walled like a well. It contained nothing, apparently having been rifled. Before excavation this seemed to be more like a grave than No. 1. (See photograph taken from the southwest.)
Grave No. 3. Rock-slide grave.
99-4314. Bleached skull and jaw of an adult purchased of a boy who said it was from a rock-slide grave on the north side of the Yakima Ridge lying east of the Yakima River above the Upper Gap.
Grave No. 4. Rock-slide grave about 6 feet southeast of grave No. 5 at Selah Canon. As this grave had been opened and the skeleton had been disturbed, no accurate description as to its position can be given. Some of the rock-slide material was quite large, weighing from 200 to 300 lbs; depth, 4 feet; diameter, 3 feet. Decayed wood was found in the grave and long poles on the side of the grave. The grave was probably not very old.
99-4315. Part of skull and skeleton of a youth which was partly bleached. Found in Grave No. 4.
Grave No. 5. Rock-slide grave in Selah Canon and about 6 feet northwest of grave No. 4. Apparently this grave had been rifled. The adult skull lay to the west and was broken. The skeleton was flexed, the feet were toward the east and the knees south of the vertebrae, that is, the skeleton was on the right side. The grave which was about 75 feet up the hillside, and 1-½ miles east of the Yakima River on the south side of Selah Canon, was about 3-½ feet deep by 3-½ feet in diameter. Long poles lay on the side of the grave while decayed wood, leather thongs and dried flesh yet adhering to some of the bones, in this kind of a grave even in such a dry region as this, especially the last two, suggest the grave to be recent.
99-4316. Jaw and skeleton of an adult. Found in grave No. 5.
Grave No. 6. Rock-slide grave about 100 feet up the hillside at the top of a rock-slide on a point south of the Yakima River about 2 miles northeast and above the mouth of the Naches River. The bones were found in excavating an adjacent barren grave, 5 feet to the northeast and had probably been thrown out of this one on top of it. Pieces of cedar were scattered around the grave, which had been rifled. Its depth was 5 feet, diameter 5 feet.
99-4317. Skull and one hip bone of an adult. Probably from grave No. 6.
Grave No. 7. Rock-slide grave situated northeast of North Yakima and about half a mile northeast of grave No. 6. There is a road near the edge of the grave. The grave had been rifled and pieces of wood were found lying near it; the bones were scattered around and broken. None of them were in anatomical order. Numbers 202-8153 to 202-8156 were found in this grave.
202-8153. One brass bell.
202-8154. Three glass beads.
202-8155. Two shell beads.
202-8156. Three dentalium shells.
Grave No. 8. Rifled rock-slide grave. The skeleton which had been wrapped in cedar bark had been taken away. Nothing besides the cedar bark was found. The grave was found near No. 7 and about a half mile northeast of No. 6. Wood was lying near by. There was a road near the edge of the grave which had been rifled.
Grave No. 9. Rock-slide grave found near No. 7 which was situated about half a mile northeast of No. 6. The grave contained nothing but charcoal. There was wood lying near by. There was a road near the edge of the grave which had been rifled.
Grave No. 10. Rock-slide grave excavated June 2, 1903. This grave was 150 feet up the hill from the Naches River, half a mile above its mouth and on the north side. It was 5 feet long by 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep and had been disturbed and many of the bones thrown out. Dry poles and cedar boards lay around the top. Numbers 99-4318, 202-8157 to 202-8169 were found in this grave.
99-4318. An adult skull and skeleton with abnormality on right malor and with one rib expanded, part of a young adult skeleton and part of a child's skeleton were found. Some of the bones were bleached. The adult and the child were on the bottom. These two bodies had been wrapped in bark and placed in a hole one foot deep in the ground below the slide. The adult's head was to the west southwest. On top and to the east northeast was the young adult. Human hair was also found in grave No. 10.
202-8157. Four parts of the hearth of a fire drill, similar to that used in the Thompson River region. See Teit, (a) p. 203, for descriptions of fire drills (See also [Fig. 38].)
202-8158. Wolf or dog bones, some of them bleached.
202-8159. Part of a decorated wooden bow ([Fig. 114]).
202-8160a, b. Two pieces of a basket. Doubtless of a finer stitch than those from the Thompson River Indians. See Teit, (a), Fig. 131a and Figs. 143 to 146.
202-8161. Piece of coarse coil basket with splint foundation and bifurcated stitch ([Fig. 17]).
202-8162. Piece of a stitched rush mat ([p. 86]).
The bill of a saw-bill duck was found but not preserved.
202-8163. Copper tubes with six beads, short sections of dentalium shells, which were found from the top to the bottom of the grave. These beads were strung.
202-8164. Four bone tubes found near the bottom and mostly to the east northeast of the grave.
202-8165. Point made of bone found to the west northwest in grave ([Fig. 7]).
202-8166. A perforated cylinder made of steatite found at about the center of the grave ([Fig. 99]).
202-8167. Fishbone.
202-8168. Three pieces of yellow jasper (raw material).
202-8169a, b, c. Three small arrow points, one found on center, one in east northeast part and one in south of grave. a is of brownish fissile jasper ([Plate II. Fig. 2]).
Grave No. 11. Rock-slide grave located on the north side of the Naches River, a little over half a mile above its mouth. The place is about 600 feet west southwest of grave No. 10 and 150 feet above the river. It was 6 feet by 4 feet in diameter and 4 feet deep. Apparently it had been rifled as nothing was found in it except a skull and a few bones.
99-4319. Skull, a lower jaw, and a few broken bones which were scattered among the rocks. The skull was found in the west southwest part of the grave with the face down. The lower jaw was found in the southern part of the grave about 1 foot higher up in the rocks.
Grave No. 12. Bluff pebble grave. We examined a ring of river boulders on the twenty-acre farm of Mr. James McWhirter, a boy about fifteen years old, twelve miles up the Naches River on the crest of the foothill terrace north of the road, and overlooking the bottom along the north side of the Naches River. This grave was about 150 feet high above the river by about half a mile from it. At first it looked like a little underground house site or a shallow cache pit. (Museum negative, no. 44441, 1-2 for general locality.) James, who called our attention to the pile of boulders, said that some one threw off part in an abandoned attempt to dig the grave. We thought the grave practically undisturbed and it proved to have been the least disturbed of any we had found up to this point. The outside of the ring was 10 feet east and west by 5 feet north and south. The inside of the ring or the space surrounded was 6 feet east and west by 4 feet north and south. Probably this grave was a boulder heap, the aspect of a ring being given by the removal of the stones, i.e., this central space may be where stones were thrown off. River boulders were found from top to bottom. The boulders varied in weight from about 7 to 30 pounds. Most of them were disk-shaped but some were oval. Numbers 99-4320 and 202-8170, 1 were found in this grave.
99-4320. An adult skeleton was found 4 feet deep with the head towards the west, resting on its occiput. The skull which was broken, faced south by east, with the mouth open. The knees were north; the body was on its left side and flexed. Over the north side of the knees was an elliptically-shaped piece of cedar burned on the upper side. It was about 2 feet wide by 4 feet long. A few fragments of the skeleton of a child were found in the grave. All the bones in the grave were very soft and as the ends were broken off we discarded all but the skull and a few of the bones of the child. Two shell disks (202-8170,1) were found about 6 inches apart near the neck, one at the south shoulder, and one at the south side of the skull of the adult.
202-8170. Pendant of disk shape made of oyster shell with one perforation near the edge ([Fig. 94]).
202-8171 Pendant of disk shape made of shell with two perforations near one edge ([Fig. 93]).
Grave No. 13. Cremation circle, similar to several of the others on the terrace northwest of the mouth of the Naches River. This consisted of a ring of angular rocks among which were no river pebbles, resembling a small underground house site, 8 feet in diameter outside, 6 feet in diameter at the top of the rocks, 4-½ feet in diameter inside, both east-west and north-south. It is widest and built of largest stones on the side towards the lower part of the terrace, suggesting that the ring had slid down but the nearly level terrace would argue against this idea. This grave was like a rock-slide grave, filled with soil, but on a gently sloping terrace instead of a steep slide. Photograph no. 44495, 5-8, from the south shows a telegraph pole to left and a flume across the Yakima River to the right. See also graves No. 14 and 15. Child bones, found two feet deep in volcanic ash, were decayed and discarded. The tibiae were about 2-½ inches long.
Grave No. 14. This cremation circle was situated on the terrace about 100 feet above the Naches River and about 250 yards north of the two bridges near its mouth. [Plate IX, Fig. 1] (photograph no. 44493, 5-6) shows this from the east with telegraph poles beyond. The stone circle measured 6 feet north and south inside (16 outside) by 7 feet east and west inside (14 outside). Our excavation here was 6 by 5 by 4 feet deep. Fragments of charred human bones, and some that seemed not to be charred, of six or seven individuals were found from about 1 foot deep down to 4 feet deep. Most of these were pieces of skulls, but pieces of many other bones were found. The bones which were most burned, were those found nearest the surface. Much charcoal was seen. A layer of ashes about 6 inches in thickness was found in the center. In the northwest part of the hole a skeleton was found lying on the left side flexed, the face east, and the head north. This may have been buried after the others. The bones were very much decomposed and the skull was broken into small pieces. Numbers 202-8172 to 202-8174 were found in this grave.
202-8172. A shell ornament found on the east side of the skull.
202-8173. Two dentalium shells found on the west side of the skull. Dentalium shells were found in all parts of the excavation but were most numerous in the northeastern parts.
202-8174. A shell ornament.
Grave No. 15. Cremation circle excavated on June 10, 11 and 12. Shown from the east in photograph No. 44494, 5-7. It is 56 feet west of grave No. 14 and further up the terrace. The outside circle of stones measured 15 feet north and south by 15 feet east and west. The next circle of stones measured 9 feet north and south by 9 feet east and west. The space inside the stone circle measured 7 feet north and south by 7 feet east and west. The depth varied from 2 feet 6 inches in the east and south parts to 4 feet in the north and west parts below all of which was a pitching layer of basaltic rocks. The three rings of stones surrounded a hollow. The inner row was about 12 inches lower than the outer ring. Several boulders were found in the grave. Ashes and lava composed the grave soil. The whole cremation circle seemed to have been the burned remains of a communal or family depository for the dead, probably a hut like an underground winter house walled around the edge of the roof with stones. Two skeletons were found on the bottom, apparently not burned, but much decayed. They were discarded. Numbers 202-8175 to 202-8182 were found in this grave.
202-8175. Charcoal was abundant but most of it was found about 14 inches deep.
202-8176. Broken and charred human bones of about twelve individuals were found throughout the grave in a space about 8 by 5 feet beginning at the east inner ring of stones and extending beyond the second circle on the west. They were found from 8 inches deep to parts of the bottom.
202-8177. Dentalium shells were very abundant.
202-8178. Engraved dentalium shells ([Fig. 118]).
202-8179. Several kinds of shell ornaments were found in the northern and northwestern parts of the grave.
202-8180. Several burned pieces of shell.
202-8181. One piece of metal, probably copper.
202-8182. Several pieces of shell of different kinds.
Grave No. 16. Shallow cremation circle, 13 feet north and south by 14 east and west (outside); 5 feet north and south by 7 feet east and west (inside). Charred human bones of a child about 10 years old were found.
Grave No. 17. Cremation circle situated 58 feet west from grave No. 15 and 46 feet west from grave No. 16. Its diameter was 13 feet east and west by 14 feet north and south outside of all stones. The diameter was 5 feet east and west by 6 feet north and south inside. At the middle of the stone ring the diameter was 9 feet. The middle of the excavation was 3 feet deep in volcanic ash. No evidence of burning was found among the bones except the presence of charcoal at a depth of four feet. Parts of at least four skeletons, one adult, and children were found, all much broken and separated. The bones were mostly in the southwestern end of the excavation. No skull bones were found except a lower jaw, while in grave No. 13 most of the pieces found were of skulls. Numbers 202-8183 to 202-8185 were found here.
202-8183. Three shell ornaments found in the northeastern part of the grave.
202-8184. Two dentalium shells found in the western part of the excavation. These were the only two found in the whole grave.
202-8185. Piece of copper found in the northwestern part of the grave.
Grave No. 18. Cremation circle situated 84 feet south of grave No. 14. This grave had possibly been rifled. The stone circle was 15 feet in diameter outside and 9 feet in diameter inside. The excavation was 2 feet, 6 inches to 3 feet 6 inches deep. Excavation 7 feet by 6 feet. Some fragments of human bones were found on the surface. There were more stones mixed in the earth than in the graves previously excavated here; viz: Nos. 13 to 17. Ashes were abundant especially at the bottom. Many pieces of much broken human bones were found but not as many as were seen in grave No. 15 and they were less burned than in that grave. Numbers 202-8186 to 202-8187 were found in this grave.
202-8186. Two engraved dentalium shells.
202-8187. Two dentalium shells of which one was crushed and discarded. A broken flat shell ornament which we also discarded, was found here.
Graves Nos. 19-20. These cremation circles were of the usual construction, showed nothing new and contained no specimens.
Grave No. 21. Cremation rectangle last explored on the terrace near the mouth of the Naches River and situated 300 feet northwest from the two bridges. The rectangular enclosure was bounded by a single row of stones, but on the south several rows were placed outside to conform with the slope of the hill covering a semi-circular area, while on the west was a second row of marking stones. It was 12 feet long north and south by 8 feet wide east and west and 3 feet, 6 inches deep. Part of a child's skull, two scapulae, two tibiae, and a piece of a femur of another child; bones of a young adult; a small piece of skull and part of a femur of an adult were found. All the bones were in a poor state of preservation. Numbers 202-8188 to 202-8189 were found in this grave.
202-8188. Dentalium shells.
202-8189. A shell ornament was found in this excavation. A piece of beaver tooth and several pieces of decayed cedar were also found and discarded.
99-4321. See grave [No. 25].
Grave No. 22. Rock-slide grave located near the top of the slide and above the flume on the southern side of the Yakima Ridge on the northern side of the Yakima River about a mile eastward from the mouth of the Naches River. Traces of wrappings of stitched rush matting were seen in the grave.
99-4322. Adult skeleton, partly bleached, flexed on back, head north as shown in situ after removing covering rocks in photograph (no. 44516, 7-6 from the south by west), [Plate VIII, Fig. 2] (pp. [15] and [142]).
Grave No. 23. A grave 600 feet up on the plateau south of Oak Spring Canon, in a dome-shaped mound of volcanic ash left by the wind. It was not like a rock-slide grave. Somewhat angular stones unlike rock-slide material among which were no pebbles, formed a rectangular pile, 15 feet long by 12 feet wide. The grave contained many stones, several modern beads, evidently part of a rosary, two dentalium shells and a human lower jaw, but all were discarded.
Grave No. 24. This grave was located in a dome of volcanic ash on the hill or plateau north of the Ahtanum River and northwest of Mr. A. D. Eglin's house near Tampico. It was marked by a rectangular group of rough and wind smoothed rocks (not rock-slide or river pebble) which extended down as in the crude cairns, 6 feet northeast and southwest by 4 feet wide northwest and southeast, the vault being 5 feet by 3 feet. Numbers 99-4323 and 202-8190 were found in this grave.
99-4323. A skeleton of a child found in a very much decomposed condition. Some of the bones showed anchylosis. The skull was found in the southwest of the grave with part of the pelvis, two humerii and a scapula. The rest of the skeleton was scattered, the lower jaw being in the northwest corner of the grave with the femora, [tibiae and fibulae]. The skull faced northeast and rested on the occiput.
202-8190. Bone point found at the side of the skull.
99-4324. See grave [No. 27].
Grave No. 25. Eglin stone grave located in a volcanic ash knoll left behind by wind and surrounded by 'scab land' on the bottom land about 18 miles up and west of North Yakima or nearly to Tampico, Yakima County, and on the north side of the river road, but east of the north and south branch road which is east of Mr. Sherman Eglin's place; about 600 feet north of the north branch of the Ahtanum river and about 15 feet above the water level. Over the grave was a stone heap of angular basalt about 8 feet in diameter. At a depth of 3 feet, after finding stones all the way down, was a cyst (Negative, nos. 44498, 5-11 and 44499, 5-12, reproduced in [Plate X], from the same station looking east), made up of slabs averaging 2 inches in maximum thickness with thin sharp edges about 2 feet by 18 inches and smaller. There were two such cover stones, some at the sides and ends. Sometimes two or three such slabs were found parallel or overlapping. There were no slabs or floor below the skeleton. This grave resembled very much the stone graves of Ohio and Kentucky except that the slabs were not of limestone and there was a pile of rocks over the stone cyst. Numbers 99-4321, and 202-8191 to 202-8195 were found in this grave.
99-4321. In the cyst about on a level with the lower edges of the enclosing slabs was the skeleton of a child about six years old with head west, face north, and the knees flexed on the left side. The skull was slightly deformed by occipital pressure ([Plate X]).
202-8191. Horizontally under the vertebrae was found an engraved slab of antler in the form of a costumed human figure with the engraved surface up ([Fig. 121]).
202-8192. Dentalium shells were found under the body, from the neck to the pelvis.
202-8193. Ten engraved dentalium shells ([Fig. 117]).
202-8194. A bit of bone.
202-8195. Charcoal found in this grave.
The grave (No. 25) and its contents seem to antedate the advent of the white race in this region or at least show no European influence.
99-4322 to 99-4323. See graves nos. [22 to 24].
Grave No. 26. Rock-marked grave in a dome left by the wind near the pasture gate on Mr. A. D. Eglin's place and about half a mile north of his house near Tampico. A heap of somewhat angular wind abraded rock some being smooth, (none being river pebbles or rock-slide material) marked the grave and extended below the surface about two feet. Then about 1 foot of earth intervened between them and thin rocks found around the bones of a very young child. The skull was in the northwest end of the grave and was disarticulated. The depth was 4 feet, the length of the excavation 4 feet, and the width 3 feet. The skeleton was found with the head northwest and the pelvis southeast. A grave with outward appearance resembling this except that it had river pebbles among the stones of the pile is shown in [Fig. 2, Plate IX], (Negative no. 44497, 5-10 taken from the north of east).
Grave No. 27. Rock-marked grave in a dome of volcanic ash left by the wind located about half a mile north of Mr. A. D. Eglin's house near Tampico. This grave was like a rude cairn being rudely walled and found filled with earth and stones as well as covered by rocks of which eight or nine weighing about 15 or 20 pounds, showed above the surface of the ground. Its depth was 4 feet, length 5 feet, and its width, 3 feet 6 inches, extending west southwest and east northeast. A little charcoal was found in this grave also.
99-4324. Adult skeleton found flexed on left side, facing northeast.
Grave No. 28. Rock-slide grave located in a small irregular rock-slide on the north side of Cowiche Creek about 3 miles west of its mouth and about 40 feet above the road. The rocks were piled up in a crescent-shaped ridge on the lower side of the grave. Four sticks about four feet long were found planted upright among the stones. The grave extended east and west. Parts of a human skeleton were found. It was in a flexed position, head west, skull and the bones of the upper part of the body broken and decomposed. The bones of the lower part of the body were well preserved. The skeleton had been wrapped in matting or bark, several pieces of matting being found in the grave as well as parts of a basket. Numbers 202-8196a and 202-8196b were found in this grave.
202-8196a. Chipped point of mottled quartz found near the skull ([Plate II, Fig. 3]).
202-8196b. Chipped point of white quartz found near the skull ([Plate II, Fig. 4]).
202-8197. Pestle or roller made of stone from the surface about a mile east of Fort Simcoe. This is of cylindrical shape tapering to both ends but to one more than to the other. Both ends are fractured ([Fig. 37]).
Grave No. 29. Rock-marked grave located on a plateau above Wenas Creek near its mouth and about seven miles north of North Yakima. The rocks marking the grave covered a space 6 feet by 4 feet and extended down to the skeleton which was very much broken but not decomposed. No objects other than some charcoal were found in this grave.
All the other graves in the vicinity of the mouth of Wenas Creek seem to have been rifled.
202-8198. Broken ulna of a deer found at the mouth of Wenas Creek about 7 miles north of North Yakima.
Numbers 202-8199 to 202-8204 were found on the surface at the mouth of Wenas Creek.
202-8199. Small chipped point made of red jasper.
202-8200a-c. Three chipped points made of white chert.
202-8201. Broken and burned chipped point made of white chert.
202-8202. Broken triangular chipped point made of white chert.
202-8203. Chipped point made of reddish white chert ([Plate II. Fig. 13]).
202-8204 a, b. Two chipped pieces of white chalcedony.
Numbers 202-8205a-e to 202-8206f were found in the valley of Wenas Creek, on the surface near where the trail from North Yakima to Ellensburg crosses the creek, about 7 miles north of North Yakima.
202-8205a-e. Five pieces of agate of reddish or amber color.
202-8205f. Agate of whitish color
202-8206a. A chip of stone.
202-8206b-e. Four pieces of stone.
202-8206f. Chip of stone.
Numbers 202-8207 to 202-8209 were found on the surface at the mouth of Wenas Creek.
202-8207. Pestle made of stone.
202-8208. Pestle made of stone.
202-8209. Broken pebble, battered on the side.
202-8210. Fragment of a pestle made of stone of nearly square cross section. Found on the surface three miles north of Clemen's ranch, on Wenas Creek where the trail from North Yakima to Ellensburg crosses.
202-8211. Pestle found about 28 miles north of North Yakima, on the trail to Ellensburg. It was in a dry creek in "Kittitass" Canon. This canon is probably the Manastash not the "Kittitass," as we were told.