224 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 179 



a peak which was reached around A.D. 1800. At this time the aborig- 

 inal population appeared to be in its best adjustment to its environ- 

 ment. This adjustment was quite different from that of the earliest 

 group in the local sequence. 



The people who lived along the south bank of the Columbia River 

 at a time prior to the ash fall utilized fish but had no specialized 

 fishing equipment. They must have had a tradition of hunting, for 

 their most skillfully made tools were projectile points. Other than 

 their ornaments, the remainder of their material culture was of the 

 expendable variety, simple tools that required little or no preparation 

 prior to use. In this category were the crudely made hammers, chop- 

 pers, and flake scrapers. These kinds of tools are seldom carried 

 along on a movement or migration. They can be produced quickly 

 as the need arises, and can be as readily discarded. 



The people who lived on Hat Creek hunted rabbits, deer, and birds, 

 caught a few salmon and shellfish, and probably gathered a certain 

 amount of vegetable foods such as seeds, roots, and berries. They 

 seemed to have lived in flimsy houses of a type that left no remains, 

 and they made considerable use of red ocher paint. This is all that 

 has been learned of the earliest group of people whose record has been 

 picked up in the McNary region. 



After the settling of the volcanic ash or pumicite, a group of people 

 began to live on a terrace about 5 miles to the east of Hat Creek, a 

 site now called Cold Springs. It is not possible to say how much time 

 elapsed between the two occupations, but it appears to have been a 

 very short time. This assumption is based partially on the close con- 

 formity of ash and midden at both sites, as well as the close continuity 

 of material culture. Every type of artifact that was found at the 

 Hat Creek site was also found deep in the midden at Cold Springs. 



Before the village at Cold Springs had been in existence very long, 

 two kinds of change had taken place. Certain artifacts had been 

 improved, especially in workmanship, and certain new artifacts had 

 been added to the inventory. Hammers and choppers were made by 

 removing more flakes and using more careful flaking techniques. Spe- 

 cialized fishing equipment was added to the inventory. Notched, 

 grooved, and perforated net weights were adopted, and the nets that 

 were used are responsible for the great increase in the number of fish 

 bones. 



The projectile points were carried over from the Hat Creek period 

 unchanged except that the concave-based type was no longer made, 

 and obsidian was now used. Scrapers and knives were unchanged, 

 but the long basalt laiives became more numerous. Red ocher was 

 still used, but it had been refined in some way and was pressed into 

 tablets. Bone beads and bone awls were retained as they were into 

 later times, and into the historical period. 



