ART. H PREHISTORIC PIT HOUSE VILLAGE SITE KRIEGER 19 



such etching tools may be seen to advantage on several dentalia shell 

 where, through the surface etching of curvilinear lines in series and 

 the presence of the surface in relief on intervening panels, beautiful 

 patterns are obtained having much the appearance of an overlay 

 twining basketry weave. 



The circle and dot design is applied with the three-point compass, 

 or with spaced grooving tools. These decorative designs are applied 

 in series on the surfaces of bone combs, gaming sticks, tubular bone 

 objects, and on pendants, ear ornaments, and wristlets of antler. 

 Many surface designs were found etched or pecked on horn, shell, 

 stone, and bone resembling conventional geometric patterns etched, 

 incised, or pecked on similar materials by the Thompson River Indians 

 of southern British Columbia, as described by Teit and Boas. Other 

 surface designs resemble more those utilized in basketry decoration 

 by the Umatilla, Wasco, and Yakima tribes. Others are entirely 

 unique. 



A wristlet of elk antler was found with triangular surface etchings 

 built up in series of V-shape paneling entirely encircling the object. 

 Each of the small triangular panels has as one of its sides a portion 

 of the larger V-shape panel or triangle. The same rectilinear design 

 appears on the surface of an overlay twined basket fashioned by the 

 Umatilla (Cat. No. 330551 U.S.N.M.). Etched zigzag lines appear 

 as the decorative effort on bone or stone (schistose) pendants and 

 ear ornaments and are repeated again and again in variations of rec- 

 tilinear surface decorations. Even such rare etchings and carvings 

 of the human figure as do occur appear as rectilinear designs rather 

 than in the more realistic curvilinear style described by J. H. Steward 

 in the American Anthropologist.® The carvings from Millers Island 

 and from the mouth of the Deschutes River belong to the coast type. 

 When the horse was introduced from the plateau country on the 

 south and east, the culture of the ancient Columbia River Indians 

 became much altered. The natives were now no longer so much 

 dependent upon the river for food and for transportation as they had 

 been heretofore. The open country between the Snake River, which 

 reaches the Columbia from the southeast, adjoins the territory trav- 

 ersed by the headwater tributaries of the Colorado. The culture of the 

 horse increased rapidly on the Plains, after the nucleus of the herd 

 had been formed by the few horses which escaped from Coronado's 

 troops. Trade and intercourse with the tribes living to the east of 

 the Columbia increased, and many features of the culture of the 

 Plains tribes were introduced. 



The absence of many objects of daily use and adornment in the 

 culture of the Plains tribes was noted in the burials at Wahluke. 



• "A new type of earring from the Columbia Valley," Amer. Anthrop., vol. 29, No. 3, N. 8., April- 

 June, 1927. 



