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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



IBull. 179 



graves contained no articles of European manufacture, but appeared, 

 according to Smith, to be of the late prehistoric period. The close 

 resemblance of the artifacts to those of the late prehistoric period in 

 the McNary region tends to confirm his conclusion. Table 7 com- 

 pares the Lytton material culture with that of the McNary region. 



Table 7. — Comparison of Lytton material culture with that of the McNary region 



Artifacts 



Both regions McNary only Lytton only 



Lozenge blades 



Side-notched points 



End scrapers 



Polished celts 



Stone bowls 



Sandstone shaft smoothers. 



Lap stones 



Digging stick handle 



Bone needles 



Bone dice 



Bone beads 



All kinds of shell 



Chipped fetishes 



Polished slate fetishes 



Disk choppers 



Four-notched net weights- 

 Grooved mauls 



Eccentric points 



Fancy carved bone 



Harpoon sockets 



Unless Smith failed to illustrate most of the Lytton projectile 

 points, there are few resemblances to be seen in the points of the 

 two regions. Since Lytton is situated in the extreme northwest corner 

 of the Plateau, some 350 miles from the McNary region, it is sig- 

 nificant that the similarities in material culture are so great. There 

 is no way of determining the relative frequency of the different types 

 of artifacts from Lytton. However, the presence of so many complex 

 artifacts that are identical in detail with those from all over the 

 Plateau indicates close cultural connections. 



THE SNAKE-CLEARWATER REGION 



Spinden's investigations among the Nez Perce Indians were made 

 between 1897 and 1900, with additional work done in 1907 (Spinden, 

 1908). In the region extending from the forks of the Clearwater 

 River to and along the Snake River, he examined excavations made 

 by railroad construction. He also made surface surveys and studied 

 collections that belonged to private collectors. Spinden, like H. I. 

 Smith, was more interested in presenting an areal view of the ma- 

 terial culture, and somewhat neglected the time factor. However, 

 from the stratigraphic studies made in the McNary Reservoir, it is 

 possible to give time placement to most of Spinden's materials. In 

 table 8, similarities and differences in the material cultures of the 

 McNary and Snake-Clearwater regions are listed. 



