222 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 179 



Even though evidence of gathering was lacking, it is known from 

 historical data that it supplied a large share of the food that was 

 consumed. 



HISTORICAL DATA 



There is one historical reference that probably applies to site 45- 

 BN-6. In 1812, Stuart was on his way up the Columbia River, and 

 stopped at an Indian village to trade horses. His biographer placed 

 this village just east of the town of Mottinger, Wash. (Rollins, 1935, 

 p. 61). The location fits site 45-BN-6, for there are no other sites 

 within 3 miles in either direction and 45-BN-6 is definitely post- 

 contact. The horse bones found in the house pits offer further evi- 

 dence that site 45-BN-6 was the village that Stuart visited. 



SITE 45-BN-55 (SHEEP ISLAND) 



Sheep Island is situated approximately one-half mile downstream 

 from Techumtas Island and approximately one-fourth mile upstream 

 from the Cold Springs site. The island is a large gravel bar about 

 300 yards long and 200 yards wide. Its size, of course, fluctuates 

 with the height of the Columbia River. The downstream end of 

 the island is considerably higher and has a sandy loam deposit sta- 

 bilized by vegetation. 



There have been two archeological investigations carried out on 

 Sheep Island. The first of these was an excavation in 1949, spon- 

 sored by the Whitman College Museum and Department of History, 

 and the field work was done by Thomas R. Garth (1952 a, p. 348). 

 The second excavation was by a River Basin Surveys crew in the 

 summer of 1950, and was under the direction of Douglas Osborne. 

 Garth's work brought to light two large cremation pits and several 

 burials with a series of stone and bone artifacts associated with each 

 of them. Osborne found a series of burials that were also strati- 

 graphically older than the cremations. The burials unfortunately 

 had no artifacts associated with them. 



Since the excavation of the cremation pits was not done by River 

 Basin Surveys crews, the associated materials were not available for 

 comparison with materials from other McNary sites. The illustra- 

 tions in Garth's publication do not show anything, however, that 

 differs significantly from late prehistoric sites in the region (Garth, 

 1952 a, p. 348). 



The stone materials included small delicate projectile points seem- 

 ingly identical with those from site 45-WW-6 and lozenge-shaped 

 knives similar to those from sites 45-BN-3 and 45-WW-6. A tubular 

 stone pipe and several fragments of pestles were also found. Artifacts 

 of bone included several small incised fragments of ornaments and a 

 number of points of awls or needles. 



