Pap. N^.'23Y" McNARY RESERVOIR — SHINER 217 



wide and 1 or 2 inches thick. The grave was then filled in and the 

 protruding planks were burned off level with the ground. In one 

 burial glass beads and food had been thrown in the fire, presumably 

 as an offering. Generally the bodies were flexed (pi. 44, 5) or semi- 

 flexed, on the back or side, with the head oriented to the west (down- 

 stream) . 



ECONOMY 



Most of the information that was recovered from site 45-BN-3 

 pertained to material culture and burial customs. While it is possible 

 that a group large enough to be responsible for all the burials actually 

 lived on the site, there is reason to believe that the site was not pri- 

 marily residential. 



SITE 45-BN-6 



Directly across the Colmnbia River from Techumtas Island there 

 is a long flat terrace. Site 45-BN-6, which was situated on the ter- 

 race, stretched along parallel to the river for one-half mile (map 7). 

 The site was 9 miles east of the McNary Dam and 1 mile east of the 

 small town of Mottinger, Wash. Except for being on the mainland 

 instead of on an island, 45-BN-6 was very similar to site 45-BN-53. 

 The house pits were scattered along the terrace at random with no 

 apparent pattern. Basalt cliffs rose abruptly behind the houses, and 

 the terrace fell off into the river with a steep bank and little or no 

 beach. 



ARCHITECTURE 



The village included 59 semisubterranean pit houses and one long 

 mat house. Besides testmg for midden trash, three of the house pits 

 and the mat house were excavated. Apparently the village trash was 

 dumped into the river, for no midden worthy of the name could be 

 found. Almost all of the artifacts came from the houses, as was the 

 case at 45-BN-53. 



The architecture at 45-BN-6 was little different from that described 

 for other sites in the region. House pit 7 was more typical of the 

 houses in the village. House pits 5 and 6 were possibly occupied at 

 the same time and may have been a single house over two pits. House 

 59 was a very large mat lodge and the only one excavated by River 

 Basin Surveys. 



House pit 7 had been approximately 17 feet long and 15 feet wide 

 (fig. 29). The remains of several floors were clearly discernible near 

 the center of the house but faded out near the edges. As near as can 

 be estimated, the subterranean portion of the house was approximately 

 2^ feet deep. Each of the floors was saucer shaped without abrupt 

 walls at the sides of the house. There were three distinct occupational 

 levels in the house, each marked by a black accumulation of charcoal 



526583—61 17 



