ARCPI^EOLOGY. 



19 



to the north Pacific coast of America were di- 

 rected to the archaeology of southern British 

 Columbia and to the investigation of the shell 

 heaps of the coast of Vancouver island and 

 of the adjacent mainland. The Salishan Indians 

 now living in the interior of British Columbia, 

 particularly in the valleys of the Thompson and 

 Fraser rivers, exhibit many traits that ally their 

 culture with that of the tribes of the east and 

 differentiate it from that of the coast people. 

 None of the native peoples in British Columbia 

 make pottery, and no pottery has been found in 

 archaeological work. The archaeological remains 

 occur in the light sand of the valleys and hill- 

 sides, where the wind is continually shifting the 

 dry sand from place to place. Hence no definite 

 age can be assigned to the specimens secured. 

 Judging from the complete absence of European 

 objects in many of the localities explored, it is 

 inferred that the remains found there antedate 

 contact with the whites. Numerous circular de- 

 pressions are found, indicating the sites of an- 

 cient underground houses. Bits of skin garments 

 are preserved. Portions of the clothing and bags 

 that were made of the bark of the sage brush 

 remain in the driest places. Beaver-teeth dice 

 like those used by the present Indians, digging- 

 stick handles made of antlers similar to those 

 in use to-day, charred berries, fish bones, and 

 skin scrapers made of stone were unearthed. The 

 graves were found in groups and also singly. 

 The bodies were buried upon the side, with the 

 knees drawn up to the chest, were wrapped in a 

 fabric made of sage-brush bark, and were covered 

 with mats of woven rushes. Over the forehead 

 and around the neck were strings of beads, of 

 copper, or of Dentalium shell. At the side, in a 

 pouch also made of sage-brush bark, were usu- 

 ally found such objects as pieces of glassy basalt, 

 points chipped out of the same material for 

 arrows and knives, a pair of grooved stones, 

 which were used for smoothing and straightening 

 arrow shafts, a set of beaver-teeth dice, bone awls 

 and needles, quantities of red ocher, copper- 

 stained clay, and red earth, used for paint. A 

 number of war clubs and several small animal 

 figures carved in bone were found. The handles 

 of the clubs were sculptured to represent human 

 heads with plumed headdresses. Several speci- 

 mens, such as the stone mortar and the tubular 

 pipe, recall the types found in Oregon and Cali- 

 fornia. Ethnological investigations have shown 

 the affiliation of the recent culture of this region 

 to that of the Rocky mountain region. These 

 archaeological evidences suggest to Mr. Smith 

 that this similarity was even greater in the past. 

 The most extensive remains of the early in- 

 habitants of the coast are shell heaps. Their 

 general distribution may be judged by the fact 

 that more than 150 were noted in the region, less 

 than 100 miles square, on the shore of the north 

 end of Vancouver island and the mainland op- 

 posite. In general they are located at the mouths 

 of fresh-water streams, and are several hundred 

 yards in length by 5 or 6 feet in depth, while a 

 few are miles in length and some are as much 

 as 9 feet deep. Stumps more than 5 feet in 

 diameter standing on them indicate a consider- 

 able antiquity for the lower layers, but few of 

 the layers being more than an inch or two in 

 thickness. The archaeological specimens found 

 in them include points and barbs rubbed out of 

 bone, bone choppers for preparing cedar bark, 

 pebbles with battered ends, such as are used in 

 a game resembling quoits, and a copper orna- 

 ments. The scarcity of archaeological specimens 

 is accounted for by the fact that the people de- 



pended very largely upon cedar products, which 

 soon decay. The shell heaps of the delta of the 

 Fraser river, while in general resembling those 

 of the coast, present several marked differences. 

 Much more black soil, charcoal, and ashes occur 

 among the layers. The shells are considerably 

 more decayed and mixed with the black soil ; 

 numerous skeletons of two distinct types of men 

 are found among the layers. The proportion of 

 specimens to the extent of the shell heaps is 

 vastly greater than in the other localities. A 

 stump of Douglas fir more than feet in diameter 

 stood on one of the heaps where the layers, 

 there reaching a depth of more than 8 feet, con- 

 tained human remains. This tree indicates an 

 age for the top layers of more than five hundred 

 years, and the bottom layers must be very much 

 older. There is no apparent difference in the 

 character of the specimens found in the recent 

 and in the older layers. The general style of the 

 objects is similar to that of those made by the 

 present tribes on the coast. The two types of 

 skeletons belonged apparently to coexistent peo- 

 ple, as they were excavated from the same layers. 

 The fact that bodies were found in shell heaps 

 indicates that the customs of this people must 

 have differed from those of the people who 

 formed the shell heaps on northern Vancouver 

 island, or that the former people was subject 

 to other influence. The bodies were usually lying 

 on the side, with the knees close to the chest. 

 Except in rare instances, but few, if any, objects 

 accompanied them. 



Cairns were observed, consisting of irregular 

 piles of bowlders, from 10 to 20 feet in diameter, 

 thrown over the body. In most cases the body 

 was surrounded by a rectangular vault, formed 

 by placing the straight sides of four or five bowl- 

 ders toward the body, and covering the cyst thus 

 made with one or two slab-shaped rocks. Over 

 this the rough pile of the cairn was reared. A 

 few copper ornaments were found buried in cairns. 

 The skeletons were usually much decayed. 



Relics of the Cliff Dwellers. The discovery 

 of extensive ruins of the cliff dwellers and pre- 

 historic peoples scattered over considerable 

 tracts in southern Colorado is reported by Mr. 

 Cecil A. Doane, a deputy United States surveyor. 

 They are situated in districts which have been 

 little visited by scientific archaeologists. In one 

 place, west of the La Plata river, an area of 

 about 6,000 or 7,000 acres were dotted with the 

 ruins of the stone houses, most of them small 

 (family houses), of a people who apparently 

 lived by agriculture. Yet no evidences of irri- 

 gation were observed. Traces of similar former 

 habitation were found in localities where the 

 surface is now covered with a dense growth of 

 sage brush and piiion or cedar trees, through 

 which it is often difficult to make way. The 

 ruined walls of what must have been a very 

 large structure massive ^ and measuring 45 by 

 90 feet were discovered* in surveying a forest. 

 Large piiion trees were growing within the walls. 

 In another locality were found houses of cliff 

 dwellers, built high up the rocks, and accessible 

 now only by ropes, reaching down from the tops 

 of the cliffs. 



A number of well-preserved mummies found 

 by a prospector in a sealed cliff dwelling in the 

 upper Verde caiion had well-developed skulls, 

 covered with fine, silky hair, and were bandaged 

 with cotton and woolen cloths of various degrees 

 of fineness, some of it embroidered in open work. 

 The whole was wrapped in a matting of bear 

 grass. Kernels of corn and bone implements were 

 found with them. Small copper bells were dis- 



