ANTHROPOLOGICAL STUDIES IN CALIFORNIA. 177 



differing from that of the coastal belt on the west and from the foot- 

 hills and sierra on the east. There was a tendency toward sedentary 

 life, fostered, no doubt, liy an unfailing food supply, which consisted 

 of lish and waterfowl in great plenty, and many vegetable products, 

 including acorns, seeds, roots, and various kinds of fruit. The occur- 

 rence of inundations in the lowlands must have interfered to some 

 extent with full .sedentation, the people being driven periodically into 

 the higher plains and foothills. 



It seems likelj^ that the earthworks scattered along these valleys 

 were l)uilt b}' one or more of the tribes found in possession — the 

 Wintun, the Maidu, the Mutsun, the Yokuts, and the Shoshone 

 (Powers) — since neither the works themselves, their contents, nor the 

 miscellaneous artifacts of the valley present features discordant with 

 the condition and achievements of these peoples. I believe that no 

 important distinction has been drawn between the implements and 

 utensils of the mounds and those of the surface of the country gener- 

 ally. The osseous remains exhibit no novel or distinctive features. 



Implements and utensils have a wide range in form and in the 

 classes represented, but withal are simple in character and indicate no 

 unusual advance in culture. They include mortars, milling plates, 

 pestles, and rubbing stones, of usual range of form, cylindrical steatite 

 vases of local t3^pe (Plate 24«), stone pipes, rings, discoidal stones, 

 grooved pebbles, and flaked implements of many forms. Certain 

 obsidian implements of the Stockton district present exceptional char- 

 acters (Plate :25). There are also tools of bone and shell and ornaments 

 in great variety. There are many objects of baked clay, globular, 

 discoidal, dumb-bell shape, etc., some of which may have served for 

 use in slings (Plates 26, 27a and 28). This use of clay balls is noted as 

 occurring among some of the modern tribes. The artistic sense was 

 evidenth^ not greatly developed among these people, as attested by 

 the almost entire absence of the carving or engraving of life forms. 

 In Plate 28 ?> a number of bone implements obtained from these 

 mounds and tastefully decorated with incised workings are shown. 

 They are. for the most part, whistles, or flutes, and correspond closely 

 with similar objects found in mounds and middens along the Cali- 

 fornia coast. Among the pendant ornaments of abalone shell are 

 specimens representing, apparently, a double-headed bird, suggesting 

 the doul)le-headcd eagle of European nations (Plate 24 h), but the 

 conception is quite as likely to be of purely native origin. In general 

 the contents of the mounds include few relics of recent origin. 



Enterprising archaeologists in Stockton have made valuable col- 

 lections from the mounds of the neighboring lowlands. Mr. H. C. 

 Meredith has published a number of articles describing and illustrat- 

 ing his explorations and finds, and Mr. J. A. Barr has made a most 

 valuable collection, chiefly from local mounds. Prof. Edward Hughes, 



