Fig. 41 (202-8292a). Hammerstone. From the surface, near the head of Priest Rapids, ½ nat. size.
Fig. 42. Hammerstone made of a Hard, Water-worn Pebble. From Snake River Valley twenty miles above its mouth. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from a sketch. Original in the collection of Mr. Owen.)
Fig. 43 (202-8119). Hammerstone. From the surface, Kennewick. ½ nat. size.
The long, narrow, oval pebble, shown in [Fig. 44], is about 140 mm. long, of a yellow, volcanic, coarse-grained rock, and is in the collection of Mr. Austin Mires of Ellensburg. This was found at Priest Rapids. The top is battered and slightly chipped, the other end has been battered to a rather flat edge, and this battered surface extends one half way up one side of the specimen and two thirds of the way up the other.[150] A large flat oval pebble (202-8214), found on the Cherry Creek camp site, has a notch pecked in each side edge and is battered slightly on one end. It may have been notched for hafting as a hammer, or for use as a net sinker, but the battered end suggests the former use. These pebbles which have been used as hammerstones, remind us of the unbattered pebbles found with pieces of glassy basalt in certain caches near Kamloops.[151] Pebbles used as hammerstones are also found in the Nez Perce region to the east[152] and according to Lewis stone hammers were used for splitting wood in the general plateau region of which this is a part.[153]
A pebble, oval in outline and in cross section (202-8303), found on the surface of the bank of the Columbia River, near the head of Priest Rapids, is battered on one side edge near the middle in a way that suggests that the place was for the reception of the end of a handle. The lower edge is battered and the top has a large chip off of each side. It was probably used as a hammerstone. Another flat oval pebble of lava (202-8305) found at the same place, is chipped on both sides of the entire edge; but the edge is not sharp, apparently having been dulled by scraping, the natural sand blast or weathering. A disk or sub-oblong-shaped pebble (202-8304) also found at the same place is chipped from one side only across the entire edge at a slight bevel so that it has a nearly flat edge. The high places of the edge are smoothed as if from its use in pecking, yet it does not seem to have been much used for such a purpose or to need to have been chipped into disk form for that use.
None of the pebbles which were notched and supposed to be net sinkers, as mentioned on [p. 30] and that were found in this region, show battered ends or appear as if they had been used as hammers. On the other hand, some of the grooved pebbles described as net sinkers are battered, [p. 30]. It will be remembered[154] that no notched hammers or those grooved entirely around, like those found here, were found in the Thompson River region, although a pebble which had been notched or grooved on two edges was found and figured as a hammer.[155] Nor was the grooved stone maul used by the Nez Perce to the east according to Spinden[156] although many specimens are found on the Umatilla in northern Oregon to the south.[157]
Fig. 44. Hammerstone made of a Close-Grained Yellow Volcanic Pebble. From Priest Rapids. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44534, 8-2. Original in the collection of Mr. Mires.)
Fig. 45. Celt made of Serpentine. From an Indian at Ellensburg. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44507, 6-8. Original in the collection of Mr. McCandless.)
Celts. Celts made of stone such as were common in the Thompson River region[158] were not found by us in the Yakima region; but one typical specimen which apparently resembles the celts found on Puget Sound, more than it does those found in the Thompson River region is shown in [Fig. 45]. It may be seen in the collection of Mr. McCandless who secured it from an Indian at Ellensburg. This celt is made of serpentine and is 190 mm. long.[159] A similar specimen, in the same collection, resembles this one but shows grooves along the side edges by means of which it was cut out. There is a celt made of green serpentine, only about 3 mm. thick in the collection of Mr. Owen, but it was found at Umatilla, Oregon.
Celts of jadeite (?) narrow and oblong were found on Snake River above Lewiston in the Nez Perce region to the east.[160] Spinden states that these were evidently acquired by trade from natives of the northwest coast and that they have been cut by grooving and breaking. Also, that this method and material was not employed by the Nez Perce who considered the objects to have been used as wedges. I am inclined to believe, therefore, that these more nearly resemble the celts of the Thompson River country[161] than they do those of the coast. At least one celt of this general style has been found near Lake Chelan lying between the Thompson River region and both the Yakima and Nez Perce regions. It is a long stone celt and was found in an ancient grave on the bank of the Chelan River near the house of Hon. Amos Edmunds, of Chelan, Washington. In the graves of this group, according to Mr. C. G. Ridout, who cooperated with Mr. Edmunds in excavating at this place, and from whom all of our information on this specimen was obtained, stone knives and skinning and scraping tools were found. This celt is of a mottled green "marble resembling onyx" (probably serpentine or nephrite) 400 mm. long, 47 mm. wide and 15 mm. thick. It is slightly concave on the two sides, while one side edge is flat and the other is concavely bevelled. The poll is of the natural unworked stone and judging from the drawing furnished by Mr. Ridout, was broken off. It is raggedly diagonal. The cutting edge is sharpened by long convexly ground surfaces of nearly equal size and curve. The bevel of the side edge suggests that the material for the celt was cut out by grooving and breaking as was the case in the Thompson River region, where the celts showed similar traces of grooving.[162] It is true that similar grooving may be seen on celts from the Coast, but in that region the celts are short, while in the Thompson River area they are long like this one and the material is more often of the mottled green color than on the coast. The specimen is owned by Mr. Edmunds and is in the collection of Mr. Ridout.
No pieces of antler or other material which may possibly have served as celt hafts were found in this region, although it will be remembered that one specimen, thought possibly to have been such, was found at Kamloops in the Thompson River[163] region, another in the Lillooet Valley[164] and that celt hafts made of antler were common on the coast at Port Hammond,[165] Comox,[166] Saanich,[167] and Utsalady.[168] A piece of antler (202-8378a), found on the surface near the head of Priest Rapids, is much bleached and shows signs of having been daubed with red paint. It consists of a piece which has been cut around below a fork with some sharp instrument and then broken off. The prongs seem to be simply broken off.