202 BUREAU OF AMERICAN E,THNOLOGY [Bull. 179 



Pot hunting has created a great deal of damage at the Wallula site. 

 At least one- third of the surface has been potted, and no fewer than 

 four burials were robbed. The latter expression is appropriate in this 

 case, for only the crania and long bones were taken, along with most of 

 the artifacts. Screening in the irregular disturbed areas recovered 

 vast quantities of beads and small human bones. Unfortunately, the 

 excavations carried on during the 2 weeks that River Basin Surveys 

 spent on the site did not uncover a single undisturbed burial. 



In spite of the beliefs of the local residents, the Wallula site was 

 not primarily a burial ground but a fishing village of the lat-e pre- 

 historic and early historic periods. In some places the soil was black, 

 almost greasy, with charcoal, and salmon vertebrae were present in 

 vast numbers. Most of the artifacts were utilitarian, and the 500 

 square feet of surface excavated yielded only midden trash. 



ARCHITECTDEE 



Site 45-WW-6 was subject to spring floods. In May 1950, the 

 writer was forced by a normal spring flood to abandon work on the 

 site and move out. Surface erosion was evident over all of the site, 

 and it is believed that traces of houses had been obliterated. If the 

 Wallula site had been a summer fishing village, the surface mat house 

 (to be described later) would have been used. The slight depression 

 left by a summer mat house would be erased quickly by flood erosion. 

 Large areas of charcoal were found all through the midden, but none 

 of them conformed to a house floor. Therefore, no definite informa- 

 tion was obtained on architecture. 



MATERIAL CUL.TIIRE 



Projectile points were numerous at 45-WW-6 in spite of other indi- 

 cations that it was primarily a fishing village. Out of 70 specimens 

 recovered, 48 were sufficiently intact to permit classification (pi. 38, a). 

 Most of the points were small, between 18 mm. and 27 mm. in length, 

 and were barbed. Nine specimens were of a simple leaf shape with 

 rounded bases. They were similar in outline to the projectile points 

 from the Hat Creek site, but were generally smaller. They lacked 

 the serrated edges and were not planoconvex in cross section. The 

 accompanying chart gives the distribution according to types set up 

 by Strong, Schenck, and Steward (1930, p. 78). 



The small stemmed and barbed projectile points are typical of the 

 late prehistoric and early historic periods all over the Plateau. Those 

 at the Wallula site were made of petrified wood (17 specimens) , basalt 

 (12 specimens), agate (9 specimens) , and jasper (5 specimens) . Only 

 two projectile points were made of obsidian. 



