Fig. 21 (202-8281). Pestle made of Stone. From the surface, near the head of Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 22 (202-8263). Pestle pecked from Stone. Probably unfinished. From the surface, near the head of Priest Rapids. ¼ nat. size.
Fig. 23 (202-8399). Pestle pecked from Stone. Probably unfinished. From the surface, eight miles above the head of Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size.
A pebble 559 mm. long by 152 mm. wide and 114 mm. thick, with rounded corners and ends, found by Mr. John Lacy near the Yakima River in North Yakima, has longitudinal grooves pecked in three sides to where they begin to round over to form the end, and a similar groove, except that it is only about 101 mm. long, in the middle of the fourth side.[91] These grooves were probably made as part of a process of grooving and battering down the intervening ridges in order to bring the specimen into a desired form. Similarly grooved pebbles found on the northern part of Vancouver Island were explained to Professor Franz Boas as having been implements in such process of manufacture. So far as I am aware, Prof. Boas' announcement of this at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was the first explanation of the sort of grooving or fluting of specimens found in northwestern America. One similar large specimen (20.0-3343) found at Lewiston, Idaho, in the Nez Perce region by Dr. H. J. Spinden, bears two longitudinally pecked grooves in addition to pecking on much of its surface. A yellowish gray boulder about 349 mm. long, nearly circular in sections and with rounded ends, from Priest Rapids, bears a pecked groove 82 mm. long by 31 mm. wide and 6 mm. deep across the middle of one side. This may have been made to cut it into the length desired for a pestle.[92] This specimen is much too large to be considered as the handle of a digging stick, similar to the object from the Nez Perce region considered as such by Spinden.[93]
The object shown in [Fig. 22], one of those from the surface near the head of Priest Rapids, judging from the battered end, has apparently been used as a pestle, yet it is still apparently in process of manufacture into a form somewhat like that shown in [Fig. 27]. The pecking at the top is possibly the result of an attempt to remove that portion of the rock, while the transversely pecked surface seems to be a beginning towards the formation of the shaft of the pestle, whereas the longitudinal groove between these two surfaces was necessary to reduce an excrescence on the rim of what was apparently intended to be the knob at the top of the pestle. If this supposition be true, when finished, this object would have a large striking head resembling more in shape and size those of the pestles of the region near The Dalles than any yet found in this region. The specimen shown in [Fig. 23] is much more clearly an unfinished pestle. The ends are pecked flat and the entire middle section has been pecked, apparently to reduce it to the desired size of the shaft. It seems that the striking head of this specimen, when finished, would be rather short. It was found on the surface eight miles above the head of Priest Rapids.
The pestle shown in [Fig. 24] has a conoid body with no striking head and in this respect resembles the pestles of the Thompson River country;[94] but the top is roughly disk-shaped, being neither hat-shaped nor in the form of an animal head, as are most pestles of the Thompson region nor is it exactly of the shape of the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island.[95] The material is a soft gray stone which shows the marks of the pecking by means of which it was shaped.
Fig. 24. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44535, 9-1. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)
Fig. 25. Pestle made of Stone. From Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44535, 9-1. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)
[Fig. 25] illustrates a pestle, the top of which is broken off. There are two grooves encircling the somewhat cylindrical striking head. The material is a light blue hard porphoritic rock. These two specimens are from Priest Rapids.[96] The pestle shown in [Fig. 26] is from the Yakima River, five miles below Old Yakima. It has a hat-shaped top and a cylindrical striking head a little larger at the top than at the bottom, is somewhat like the typical pestles of the Thompson River region,[97] and is in the collection of Mr. York. Another has a slightly wider brim to the hat-shaped top, a body concave in outline and the striking head is larger at the top than at the bottom, while a third has a medium sized brim, a body bulging in the middle and a long cylindrical striking head. The last two specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and are from the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima.[98]
The specimen shown in [Fig. 27] was found in a grave with beads and resembles the typical pestles of Lytton except that it has no nipple on the top, which is of the shape of the tops of the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island. Another of nearly the same shape but less regular was found on the surface of the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima. A third specimen 234 mm. long, also found within the above mentioned limits, is made of a concavely flaring pebble. A groove is pecked part way around near the top as if to carve the knob and begin the reduction of the top of the shaft. There is also a pecked surface on one side near the base, apparently the beginning of an attempt to form a striking head by first removing irregularities. The one shown in [Fig. 28] was found within eight miles of North Yakima and is of rather unusual shape, having a short striking head of the shape of the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island. The slightly bulging body and exceedingly small, nearly flat knob at the top are entirely different from those of the pestles usually found in any of this area, or the country adjacent to it on the north and west. These four specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[99]