8 PKOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM vol, 73 



recedence of the ice sheet, the Columbia Kiver again followed its 

 old channel, which it still occupies. 



Any cursory study of the geological history of the Columbia Valley 

 must indicate that human occupation of this region during the Pleis- 

 tocene was unpossible. Supposedly vaHd evidence of man's antiquity 

 in the valley of the Columbia has been found, nevertheless, in the 

 form of crude, unfinished stone implements cached in the vicinity of 

 a glacial morraine in the Lake Chelan country. This cache, however, 

 is entu-ely superficial or intrusive and was deposited at a much later 

 date. 



Another cache of unfinished knives or spear points, shaped like- 

 wise from andesite porphyry, was found embedded in a cremation 

 burial on a bench of the Columbia Kiver at a location locally known 

 as Simmons' graveyard, near Quincy, Grant County, Wash. The bur- 

 ial here is unique in that it lies directly underneath and several feet 

 below a pit-house village erected at a later date. The crude appear- 

 ance of the roughly chipped unfinished leaf-shape thick sectioned 

 stone blades has led to the mistaken assumption of great antiquity. 

 Pleistocene faunal remains which protrude from the vertical escarp- 

 ment of the White Bluffs formation along the Columbia River near 

 Wahluke and are associated with weapon points and implements of 

 chipped stone are no true indication of a hving association of Pleisto- 

 cene fauna and ancient man, as has been supposed. The elevation 

 above the country surrounding White Bluffs provided a splendid 

 observation point for the Indian hunter in search for game or on the 

 the lookout for hostile strangers. White Bluffs also was a well-marked 

 trail used by the Indian when he journeyed eastward and northward 

 away from the river on food-gathering expeditions. The chipped 

 stone objects found are clearly intrusive and belong to a much later 

 date. The geologic history of central Washington does offer, however, 

 an explanation in part of the material culture of the early occupants 

 of Wahluke. Environmental factors there have served as a causa- 

 tive agent, likev,dse as a barrier to the development of a culture 

 complex within other than certain conscribed limits. This basic fact 

 is most strikingly brought out in a consideration of their stone culture. 

 Evidence obtained from the nature of the objects exhumed at Wah- 

 luke would appear to indicate that in prehistoric times up to some 

 as yet undetermined date there existed a close connection of material 

 culture and tribal practices throughout the entke area of the western 

 plateau in what within historic times became known as distinctly 

 Salish, Shahaptian, and Shoshonean cultures. There is definite evi- 

 dence that this culture extended far to the south and formed the nucleus 

 or substratum of the Basketmaker culture of the Southwest. 



At many places along the banks of the Columbia and tributary 

 streams sedunentary deposits are exposed which were carried down in 



