178 BUREAU OF AMERICAN E,THNOLOGY [Bull. 179 



ECONOMY 



The animal bones from the Hat Creek site have not been thoroughly 

 analyzed. A preliminary analysis showed that, numerically speak- 

 ing, rabbits were most frequently killed, then deer, followed by sal- 

 mon. Bird bones were present in the midden, but their fragmentary 

 condition did not permit an immediate identification as to species. 

 Almost all the animal bones were broken and a great many of them 

 were partially burned. The proportion of fish bones found at the Hat 

 Creek site was smaller than that at any other site excavated in the Mc- 

 Nary region. As will be shown in the description of material cul- 

 ture, specialized fishing was apparently not developed at the Hat 

 Creek site. The relative scarcity of fish bones bears out this observa- 

 tion. 



Ethnographic reports tell of fish being taken with clubs, with 

 lances, and with bow and arrow. It is quite possible that techniques 

 of this sort were employed during the occupation at Hat Creek since 

 no net weights were recovered. 



SITE 35-UM-3 



About 2 miles west and downstream from Hat Creek on the same 

 (Oregon) side of the river is site 35-IJM-3. It is situated on a hill- 

 side that slopes toward the river and is 30 or 40 feet above the normal 

 river level. The site itself is in and around a large sand blowout, some 

 150 feet long and 75 feet wide (pi. 31, a) . In the center of the blow- 

 out there was an erosional remnant of midden capped with a thick 

 stratum of volcanic ash that in turn was capped with a stratum of 

 sandy loess. 



The volcanic ash is part of the same ashf all that is present at Hat 

 Creek and Cold Springs. At 35-UM-3 it was undisturbed except 

 for occasional rodent burrowing. The sand over the ash was sterile 

 and contained no habitational debris. Beneath the ash there were 

 some signs of occupation, but it could hardly be called a midden. The 

 animal bones and flakes were thinly scattered through some 2i/^ feet of 

 sandy deposit. On both sides of the erosional remnant the wind had 

 blown out about 6 or 8 feet of sand and ash. The surface of the blow- 

 out was paved with flakes, broken rock, mussel shells and occasionally 

 an artifact. It cannot be proven, but it is suspected that the cultural 

 debris came from beneath the volcanic ash. 



Test excavations beneath the ash recovered a few flakes, a spall flake 

 scraper or knife, and a basal section of a projectile point. The latter, 

 leaf shaped with a convex base, would fit easily into the collection 

 from Hat Creek. The test excavation was not large, and a very small 

 sample was recovered, but it demonstrated that the situation at Hat 

 Creek was not unique. On the surface of the blowout a small frag- 



