12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.73 



in terms of environmental factors. Objects recovered from graves 

 in the cemetery and from surface finds ab the site of the pit-house 

 village of Wahluke are principally animal, vegetable, and mineral 

 products obtained from regions near by. They consist of objects 

 shaped from stone, bone, horn, the bark of trees, grasses, and various 

 vegetable fibers, human and animal hair, chiefly that of the mountain 

 sheep and of the dog. Many objects shaped from varieties of Denta- 

 lium indianorum and of abalone (haliotis) shell of the varieties Haliotis 

 Icamchatkana, Haliotis julgens, and Haliotis rufescens were exhumed 

 with the burial offerings at Wahluke. Other Pacific coast shells found 

 in quantitjT^ in graves along the middle Columbia, especially at 

 Wahluke, are quite distinct from the unio or fresh-water clamshell and 

 must have been brought to the interior by direct or indirect trade 

 with tribes of the Pacific coast, either by way of the lower Columbia 

 River or across the mountains from Puget Sound. That few objects 

 were found shaped from wood either of a useful or ornamental nature 

 is noteworthy. Driftwood must have been plentiful if we are to judge 

 from the large amount used in cremation. It is highly probable that 

 artifacts shaped from wood might have been preserved in the burn 

 along with basketry materials, fabrics, and objects shaped from horn 

 and bone had they ever existed. It must therefore be concluded that 

 burials at Wahluke antedate the highly developed technique in wood 

 as practiced by the tribes of the lower Columbia. The more formal 

 and conventional rectilinear art designs of the early occupants of the 

 arid middle Columbia Valley were executed cheifly on antler and 

 stone. 



Tubular steatite pipes found at Wahluke are of two types. The 

 one, a long tubular bowl-shaped object, entirely undecorated, obtained 

 possibly through intercourse with California tribes; the other, a straight, 

 small-bowled, tubular pipe with long narrow stem, etched as to bowl 

 and stem with rectilinear ornamental designs similar to those executed 

 on other objects from stone, bone, and horn, is undoubtedly native to 

 the middle and upper Columbia Valley. This tubular stone pipe 

 is identical with the native tubular pipe of southern British Columbia 

 and of southern Idaho. Another tubular pipe found rarely is the 

 carved bear figurine type which comes from the northwest Pacific 

 coast tribes. A catlinite bowl pipe was exhumed which indicates 

 influence from the East. Nephrite celts of various dimensions and 

 with highly polished surfaces seem to suggest an important exchange 

 of materials with tribes of British Columbia; it is possible that much 

 of the native copper came originally from the interior of British 

 Columbia. It is impossible to determine to what extent objects of 

 carved stone, such as decorated pestles and tubular pipes, or of copper 

 beads, wristlets, amulets, and bangles, or of nephrite celts, enter prim- 

 itive trade as finished products. This point must be determined by 

 urther investigation. 



