The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

The string of all these fragments of matting was too much decayed or fragmentary for determination. It will be remembered that both sewed and woven matting were found in the graves of the Thompson River region,[253] as well as among the living Indians. It seems probable that these mats were made and used one above the other like great shingles for covering the summer house, for beds and for wrapping the dead, while the thinner pieces may have served for garments. Food was probably spread on them to dry and they no doubt served many other purposes. The art of weaving was practised to a considerable extent in the Nez Perce region to the east, although it had very slight development in the Plains area, still further east.[254]

Cord made of vegetable fibre (202-8233) found in grave No. 34 (5) (99-4329) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg, upon which copper and shell beads were strung was made of two strands, some twisted to the right, others, to the left and in some cases a single cord was used for stringing the beads, while in other cases three cords were used.

A roll of birch bark (202-8392) was found in grave No. 38 (1) (99-4333) in a rock-slide, on the west side of the Columbia River near the head of Priest Rapids. It is the only specimen of this kind that was found by us in the whole area although it will be remembered[255] that such rolls of birch bark were frequently found in graves of the Thompson River region. As stated on [p. 84], we considered this grave to be modern.

Ornaments. A great variety of ornaments was found, but most of these were in graves considered to be modern. Among the finds which appear to be old, none of them having been found in graves considered to be modern, none of them appearing to be made of commercial material and all of which seem to be of native technique are perforated disks of stone (202-8152), and bone, (202-8227), a perforated and engraved sea shell (202-8388), and haliotis shell from the Pacific Ocean (202-8393), both plain and polished dentalium shells, pendants made of what is apparently haliotis shell, a nose ornament also apparently made of haliotis shell (202-8252), and beads made of shell.

Red and yellow ochre, blue copper clay, and white earth, which may have been used for paint such as was found in the Thompson River region[256] were not seen by us in this area. Although charcoal, which may have been mixed with grease and used for paint, was frequently found there was no evidence of such use.

Fig. 73. Comb made of Antler. From a grave at Fort Simcoe. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44510, 6-12. Original in the collection of Mrs. Lynch.)

Combs. Only one comb was seen and nowhere throughout the area were found any objects known to have been used as head scratchers such as were not uncommon in the Thompson River region.[257] The comb ([Fig. 73]) is made of antler and was found where a creek had washed it out of an old grave at Fort Simcoe. The teeth are convex in outline, the back is nearly straight but not quite parallel with the line of the teeth and the ends convex, the rear end being shorter than the other. The nineteen teeth (one perhaps being rather wide to be considered) are set out from each other by grooves on each side of the comb. This edge of the object is somewhat sharpened making the lower end of each tooth resemble the shape of a celt or wedge. Near the back of the comb are three perforations, one in the middle and one at each end, the latter being about equi-distant from both the back and the end of the comb. The hole near the short end of the comb was drilled tapering from the reverse, while the two other holes were drilled tapering part way through from each side, but slightly farther from the reverse than the obverse. The specimen is in the collection of Mrs. Jay Lynch at Fort Simcoe.[258] A comb made of antler was found by us at Lytton[259] but none were seen among archaeological finds from the other parts of the Thompson River region,[260] although wooden combs are found among the Indians there, as in the Nez Perce region where modern combs were made of narrow strips of wood lashed together.[261] A comb of antler was found by us in the main shell heap at Eburne in the Fraser Delta.[262]

Beads. Among beads, some made of glass are certainly modern. Judging from these glass beads, others found associated with them or with things of white manufacture in the same grave are also modern; while some seem to be old and from sites believed to be ancient. Besides objects truly of the shape of beads, there are others, as for instance the tubes of copper such as are shown in Figs. [74] and [78], some of which were found strung with simple bead forms. Otherwise, they might possibly not have been considered as beads. [Fig. 121] suggests how such tubular beads of copper may have been worn on armlets and headdresses. In [Fig. 74] are illustrated two fragmentary strings of several types of beads from a number which were found on the neck, arms and legs of a skeleton in grave number 34 (5) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek below Ellensburg. The short cylinders are sections of dentalium shells, longer sections appearing occasionally. The longest cylinders are sheet copper rolled into cylindrical form. The lapping edge, in most of the beads illustrated is irregular and varies in thickness, which suggests that they were beaten out of native copper rather than cut out of factory-rolled copper. Of course this appearance might be given to the latter by beating it. Such rolled beads made of copper are found in the Nez Perce region to the east[263] and in the Thompson River area to the north.[264] These shell and copper beads consequently might be considered ancient from their individual appearance, but on the shorter string are some more or less spherical beads made of glass which of course shows that all these beads were used in comparatively recent times. The beads on the longer string are strung upon coarse plant fiber twisted into a two strand string while the shorter string is upon a much smaller fiber also of two strands which are twisted. Some of the other beads in this lot were strung upon thongs.