﻿NO. 7 



SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I926 



197 



Cremation graves are usually three or more feet below the surface 

 when undisturbed. A layer of flat stones was invariably placed in 

 oblong or circular form as a protective cover against marauding ani- 

 mals and erosion of the loose sand bench formation by the action of 

 the wind. Loose sand with a slight covering of soil or sometimes dry 

 powdery volcanic debris makes up the formation of the bench above 

 the river bank. This was excavated with crude shovel-shaped paddles 

 of stone, or with the hand aided by the digging stick. The body to 

 be cremated was placed on a piece of matting of Indian hemp, tule 



Fig. 194. — A prehistoric Indian grave at Wahluke, Grant County, Wash- 

 ington. The burial is protected with a circular ring of bowlders which have 

 been carried up from the river beach. Among the many ceremonial burial 

 offerings found within this grave were no objects such as glass beads or iron 

 knives which might indicate Hudson Bay Company influence. 



reeds, or cat-tail rushes. About the l)ody, which was oriented some- 

 times with head up-stream, sometimes to the east, or, again apparently 

 haphazard, were arranged the personal belongings of the dead. The 

 pyre was built up of logs of driftwood. Many of the objects placed 

 in the grave are merely charred ; others, including the skeletal ma- 

 terial, are completely burned or calcined. No indications of burial 

 houses such as were erected by the tribes on the lower river were found 

 at Wahluke or elsewhere on the middle Columbia. 



In some instances the skeletons were oriented in such position as to 

 suggest secondary burial, parts of several skeletons in such cases being 



