The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

Fig. 78 (202-8238). Pendant made of Copper, Thong and Copper Bead. From grave No. 34 (5) of an infant in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. Nat. size.
Fig. 79. Button made of Shell with Attached Bead made of Metal. From an Indian at Ellensburg. Nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44506, 6-7. Original [in] the collection of Mr. McCandless.)
Fig. 80 (202-8227). Perforated Disk made of Bone. From grave No. 31 (2) of a child in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. Nat. size.

The object shown in [Fig. 79] is a sort of button made of shell attached to which is a metal bead. It was secured from an Indian at Ellensburg and is in the collection of Mr. McCandless.[276] The edge of the shell disk is rounded. There are two perforations through the disk, one a short distance from the centre. The other is in the centre, into which the metal bead is welded. The hole in the bead is parallel to the surface of the shell disk but does not go through the bead.

[Fig. 80] illustrates a disk of bone about 1 mm. thick found in grave No. 31 (2) of a child in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek below Ellensburg. The edge is rounded, the perforation has straight sides and is slightly worn at the ends. This, together with certain faint parallel grooves running diagonally across the grain of the bone suggests that the object may be a portion of a factory-made button.

Fig. 81. Pendants made of Slate. From McNeals Island near the mouth of Yakima River. ½ nat. size. (Drawn from photograph 44503, 6-4. Original catalogue No. 45 in the collection of Mr. Janeck.)

Pendants perforated at the end or edge are shown in Figs. [81] to [94], arranged according to material, as stone, copper, brass, iron and shell. [Fig. 81a] illustrates a pendant made of slate which was found with five others in a grave on McNeals Island near the mouth of the Yakima River by Mr. Janeck. It is 52 mm. long, 3 mm. thick by 24 mm. wide. The upper end is narrower than the lower and perforated closer to the end of the object than to the side edges. The perforation tapers from each side and shows striations caused by drilling. The lower end of the pendant is somewhat thicker than the upper end.[277] The pendant shown next in the figure bears the same catalogue number in Mr. Janeck's collection and was one of the same lot of six specimens. It is 70 mm. long by 19 mm. wide and 3 mm. thick, is made of slate and similar to the other five specimens except that it bears six notches spaced about equi-distant from each other on one edge, and that the perforation is irregular, apparently having been broken through rather than drilled. The edges of this pendant are rather flat and the lower end is bevelled off somewhat from each side like a celt. This pendant may have been made to represent the tooth of an animal.[278]

A pendant made of steatite and bearing an incised design in which part of the lines and holes are colored with red paint (mercury) is shown in [Fig. 119]. This was found on the manubrium of an adult skeleton supposed to be that of a man, in a grave covered with rocks on a low ridge about two and a half miles south of Fort Simcoe. The object is not necessarily recent because the coloring matter being mineral may have lasted a long time. In outline, it is of the form of a tall truncated pyramid. It is only about 6 mm. thick and its edges are rounded or somewhat sharp. Across the base of the side shown in [Fig. 119a] extends a ridge which on the opposite side of the specimen is raised for only a short distance on the left. The Agency physician is of the opinion that the grave was very old and that steatite does not occur near by but that the material must have been brought from Puget Sound. As the character of the art more closely resembles that of the Thompson River region where steatite is frequently found, at least in the form of artifacts, it would seem that the material more likely came from there, if indeed it was not from a nearer source, perhaps in this very valley. The specimen is in the collection of Mrs. Lynch.

[Fig. 82] illustrates a long pendant made of copper found about one foot deep among the rocks over grave 34 (5) of an infant in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek below Ellensburg. The perforation at the top is punched, which together with the fact that glass beads and a piece of iron were also found in this grave, suggests that the copper is factory-rolled. The edges are rounded and thinned, possibly by disintegration, to almost a cutting edge. The thong by which it was suspended is of skin and attached by being passed through the perforation and looped through a slit in the tip of the thong. Two somewhat similar pendants, (202-8235a, b) made of copper, were found near the legs in this same grave. The first is narrow at the top which is slightly concave in outline, and the perforation is punched. The sides are nearly straight. The lower end is about three times as wide as the top and is deeply concave in the middle and convex in outline from this concavity to the side edges. In each of the concavities is a notch. These suggest that they are worn out perforations from which other pendants may have been suspended. The second pendant is of almost the same size and shape as that shown in [Fig. 82]. It has a somewhat fluted lower end but this characteristic may be partly the result of worn and decomposed perforations or merely of decomposition. The perforation at the top was punched and still retains a fragment of a leather thong. A small triangular pendant only 18 mm. in length, made of copper, (202-8251) was found inside the skull of a child in grave No. 37 (8) in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek. It is perforated near the most acute angle and also through the base. The perforations seem to have been punched and the corners have been rounded, possibly by decomposition. [Fig. 83] shows a thin disk-shaped pendant made of copper from the same grave as the one shown in [Fig. 82]. The perforation near the upper edge is also punched. A fragment of copper (202-8185) was found in the northwestern part of cremation circle No. 17 (12) on the terrace northwest of the mouth of the Naches River. This may be a fragment of a copper ornament. It, and the specimen found in circle No. 15 constitute the only finds of copper which were made in cremation circles. In its decomposed state it does not look like factory-rolled copper and may be native. The other fragment (202-8181) found in cremation circle No. 15 (10) at the same place may be factory-rolled copper. In the Nez Perce area to the east, small pieces of copper were attached to the dresses of women.[279]