pS.^No: 23]" McNARY RESEARCH — SHINER 259 



that the PLateau was a true culture area during the "ethnological 

 present," the era referred to here as the early historical period. The 

 problem has been to determine what the cultural situation was in 

 prehistorical times. Can this be done through the historical ap- 

 proach to archeology? 



From the data presented in the body of this paper, certain signifi- 

 cant points may be made concerning the Plateau, both prior to and 

 subsequent to European contact. Thus, in the late prehistoric period : 



1. Cultural development leading up to the late prehistoric period was measured 



progressive. 



2. Material culture was uniform. 



3. Economy was similar over the entire area. 



4. Influences from outside the area were much less important than in the 



early historic period. 



Similarly, in the early liistoric period : 



1. Plains traits were encroaching on the southeastern part of the Plateau. 



2. Northvs^est Coast traits were influencing the southwestern part of the Plateau. 



3. Influences from both areas were recent and superficial. 



4. Political organization was homogeneous. 



5. Social organization was uniform. 



6. Material culture had widespread similarities. 



7. Economy was the same over the whole area. 



In order to present the data with which the nature of Plateau culture 

 can be discussed, it is necessary to review the sources from which they 

 were derived. The new materials, from which much of the discussion 

 has been drawn, are the results of excavations and surveys performed 

 by River Basin Survey between 1947 and 1952. From these materials, 

 it was possible to construct a local sequence for the McNary region, 

 and present a reasonably complete picture of Indian life during the 

 late prehistoric period. By "reasonably complete" it goes without 

 saying that no archeological reconstruction can really be complete. 



Comparative archeological data were drawn from nearly every sec- 

 tion of the Plateau, north, east, and west of the IMcNary Reservoir. 

 The most useful data were those obtained from a series of excavations 

 in a single region ; as, for example, the work at The Dalles, by Strong, 

 Schenck, and Steward (1930), and that of Collier, Hudson, and Ford 

 ( 1942) on the Upper Columbia River. 



The local sequence developed for the McNary Reservoir does not 

 begin with Early Man. Paleo-Indian sites are present in the Plateau, 

 but have not been found in the McNary region. The earliest culture 

 in that region seems to bear a resemblance to the culture of the Great 

 Basin. It was surely nonsedentary and more adjusted to himting 

 than to fishing or gathering. The fact that fish and shellfish were 

 eaten mdicated that some adjustment to Plateau ecology had been 

 made. After a heavy fall of volcanic ash, members or descendants of 

 the same culture took up residence at Cold Springs. At this time 



