140 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



River are again typical of the area and remind one of the animal 

 figures etched in silhouette on the columnar basalt bluiTs of the 

 Columbia River at A^antage Ferry, Kittitas County, Washington. 

 Inscrii)tions on the escarpment of the Snake River at various points, 

 as at Central Ferry, at Almota, at the mouth of the Alpawa River, 

 in Washington, and at Nampa and Pocatello, in Idaho, are character- 

 istic of the art designs of the area in which they occur and differ 

 markedly from rock inscriptions elsewhere. 



The unique inscriptions, human figurine and animal figure rock 

 sculptures, and paintings of the bison, at Buft'alo Rock, about 20 

 miles south of Fewiston, Idaho, on the east bank of the Snake River 



Fig. 167. — Figures of bison painted in red on a basalt rock 20 miles south of 



Lewiston, Idaho. 



differ radically from other nearby inscriptions and are not charac- 

 teristic of the petroglyphs or pictographs of central Idaho. They 

 resemble much more what one might expect to find in a typical 

 Basket Maker environment. It is possible that future investigations 

 will reveal the presence in the Snake River valley of other evidence 

 of a similar nature. 



The type of early culture that existed within the arid sections of 

 the Columbia Basin is definitely established. I\Ian\- of the connect- 

 ing culture and trade relationships are known. The relationship 

 with the Shoshoni and with the cultures on the south, those of the 

 Basket Maker and the Pueblo, is not yet clearly defined. Further 

 research along the Snake River and in southern Idaho will no doubt 

 bring out additional evidence of relationships with the pre-agricul- 

 tural peoples of the southwest. 



