The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley

by Harlan Ingersoll Smith

Fig. 82 (202-8246). Pendant made of Copper. From about one foot deep among the rocks over grave No. 34 (5) of an infant in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 83 (202-8239). Pendant made of Copper. From grave No. 34 (5) of an infant in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. Nat. size.
Fig. 84 (202-8245). Pendant made of Brass and Bead made of Copper. From about one foot deep among the rocks over grave No. 34 (5) of an infant in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. ½ nat. size.

The pendant shown in [Fig. 84], also found near the one shown in[ Fig. 82] was made of brass. There are two perforations near the upper edge, the larger one of which is not circular, and a perforation tapering more from the concave side than from the other as well as a notch at the lower edge. The peculiarities of these perforations suggest that they were gouged out. The object is slightly concavo-convex. A skin thong is attached to the larger perforation at the upper edge by looping as in the case of the pendant shown in [Fig. 82]. On this is strung a cylindrical copper bead.

[Fig. 85] illustrates a pendant made of iron found in grave No. 35 (6) of a youth in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. The next figure represents one of thirteen cone-shaped bangles or pendants also made of iron, found in the same grave. These were made by bending a thin sheet of the metal into the conical form.

Fig. 85 (202-8249a). Pendant made of Iron. From grave No. 35 (6) of a youth in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 86 (202-8248a). Pendant made of Iron. From grave No. 35 (6) of a youth in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek, below Ellensburg. ½ nat. size.
Fig. 87 (202-8393). Pendant or Bead made of an Olivella Shell. From grave No. 39 (1) of a child in a rock-slide near the head of Priest Rapids. Nat. size.
Fig. 88 (202-8388). Pendant made of (Pectunculus) Shell. From grave of a child in a rock-slide west of Columbia River, near the head of Priest Rapids. Nat. size.

The remaining pendants are all made of shell. The one shown in [Fig. 87] is a natural olivella shell with the top of the cone missing and found in grave No. 39 (1) of a child in a rock-slide near the head of Priest Rapids. A shell somewhat similar to this made into a bead was found in the Nez Perce region.[280] The pendant shown in [Fig. 88] was found in the grave of a child in a rock-slide west of the Columbia River near the head of Priest Rapids. It is made of a small marine clam shell (Pectunculus), probably a young Pectunculus gigantea. The perforation passes through the apex and has apparently been gouged from the outside. The ribs on the convex surface of the shell have been nearly effaced by grinding or polishing and the hinge also seems to have been smoothed so that only slight scars mark the depths of the teeth. This shell certainly came from the Pacific Coast either in its natural condition or after having been made into this form. It is the only object made of this kind of shell which I have seen in the whole northwest. The pendant shown in [Fig. 89] is made of iridescent shell possibly unio but probably haliotis. If the latter, it must have come from the Pacific Coast. It was found in the same grave. This grave contained no objects of white man's manufacture or anything suggesting that it was modern. A list of its contents will [be] found on [p. 169]. This pendant is of the form of an isosceles triangle. It is perforated through the more acute angle by a small hole which tapers as if drilled from each side of the object. The edges of the pendant are rather sharp in places and the lower one is concave in outline. This object may be compared with the pendant made of bone, found at Lytton,[281] which was considered to be a sap scraper.[282]

The pendant shown in [Fig. 90], from grave No. 37 (8) of a child in a rock-slide near the mouth of Cherry Creek below Ellensburg, is made of haliotis shell which must have come from the coast and is rectangular in outline with slightly worn or rounded corners. The perforation at the top is larger at each end, while the one in the side is much larger on the convex side and only slightly larger on the concave side than in the middle. This perforation has been broken out. A somewhat similar pendant but smaller and with only an end perforation (202-8256) was found together with the shell pendant described on [p. 98] near the lower jaw in the same grave. A larger pendant of this general rectangular form, with worn or rounded corners, perforated near the middle of one end, and with a second perforation lower down (202-8254) was found with this. One perforation is larger at one side of the object, the other at the other side. Three somewhat similar pendants or fragments of such pendants, one with the perforation broken out, another with a single perforation and still another with a double perforation like the one just described (202-8183) except two dentalium shells were the only shell ornaments found in cremation circle No. 17 (12) on the flat northwest of the mouth of the Naches River. These were in the northeastern part of the circle. In the northern and northwestern parts of cremation circle No. 15 (10) on this same flat were found a number of such pendants and fragments of pendants which have only one perforation so far as can be identified.