pip. rfo!' 2^3Y* McNARY RESERVOIR — SHINER 157 



Permission to use the data gathered by Kiver Basin Surveys investi- 

 gations as material for this dissertation was generously granted by 

 Dr. Frank H. H. Koberts, Jr., director of River Basin Surveys. 



INTRODUCTION 



Anthropological research in the Plateau Area of northwestern 

 North America has failed to produce a clear picture of Indian culture. 

 From both the ethnological and archeological viewpoint there have 

 been insufficient research and little synthesis. While etlmographic 

 investigation has permitted certain generalities about Plateau culture, 

 archeological research has not produced any sort of chronology, not 

 even a local sequence. Since Wissler's classification in 1922, which 

 set up a culture area known as the Plateau, very little has been done 

 toward filling in the details that were not available then. 



A preponderance of the ethnographic research has been centered 

 in specific geographical regions to the neglect of others. Much of the 

 effort has been expended on detailed problems of almost purely aca- 

 demic interest, while basic problems of time, space, and process have 

 largely been ignored. Archeological research in the Plateau has been 

 limited to a few major excavations, and the time factor has not been 

 considered. These excavations have turned up collections of artifacts 

 but have given no reconstruction of the aboriginal culture. This com- 

 plaint has been made many times and in many places, but, relatively 

 speaking, the Plateau remains one of the least-known areas in North 

 America. If the fact is considered that thousands of aboriginal habi- 

 tation sites exist in the area and thousands of relatively unaccul- 

 turated Indians still survive, it is no exaggeration to state that the 

 Plateau is much in need of anthropological research. 



An opportunity to reopen one phase of the anthropological study 

 came with the availability of a significant body of archeological data. 

 These data came from the Smithsonian Institution's River Basin Sur- 

 veys program of salvage archeology, which began in the Pacific North- 

 west in 1947, and came to an end in 1952. The intensive program of 

 survey and excavation led to the development of a local sequence in 

 one region and additional information from several other regions 

 within the Plateau. These data should permit generalization about 

 the Plateau during the prehistoric period since time and space dimen- 

 sions on parts of the material culture are beginning to be understood. 



The phrases "Culture Area" and "Plateau Area" have been used 

 again and again, but little has been done to clarify the concepts behind 

 them. This study follows the classification made by Wissler in "The 

 American Indian" and accepts the concepts agreed upon by Wissler 



