Pap. No^'24T SHEEP ISLAND — OSBORNE, BRYAN, CRABTREE 285 



ciated with a burial complex. Their occurrence, at the nearby main- 

 land site 35-UM-7 (Osborne and Shiner, 1949), under a solid stratum 

 of mussel shells, left no doubt as to the antiquity of the forms from 

 burial 4, and others. The blades, such as /23 and /21, were presum- 

 ably knives or tips of spears or lances. The use of the bow and arrow, 

 coincidently with the manufacture of the basalt blades (at least in 

 the period of burial 4 when basalt was employed) had not been certain 

 before the artifact shown as plate 52, a, /22 was found. This point, 

 was no doubt similar to the ones used during later cremation 

 times. It had been broken at the corners and points. It was examined 

 by Dr. George Goodspeed, of the Department of Geology, University 

 of Wasliington. He stated that it is extremely fine material from the 

 sides or top of a flow. 



The gaming piece (pi. 52, &, /26), found with burial 4, indicates 

 that the hand games so characteristic of the Northwest have great 

 chronologic depth. When we have more finds of this type a study of 

 gambling on both archeological and ethnologic levels will be in order. 



Burial 4 artifacts were discussed first because of the generally 

 locally conceded earlier types of the associated artifacts. Burial 1, 

 to be considered next, also had a basalt point (pi. 52, a, /ll) but 

 the facies of the artifact is different. As far as we are aware the 

 deep basal-indented, long-eared, triangular points (pi. 52, a, /6) 

 chalcedony and j asp-opal, do not occur in basalt. These are the 

 points or knives that Garth (1952) and others call "mule ears." 



We are, in the Plateau, in the beginning stages of use of the bi- 

 nomial system of designation for points and knives. Tentatively, we 

 are inclined to accept this picturesque name that Garth's collector's 

 use for this type, which is probably a knife, and call it the Columbia 

 Mule Ear knife (see Appendix). To the senior author it is an 

 antecedent form of a later, widely spread pentagonal type with a 

 shallow or no basal notch, weaker ears or none, short, straight shoul- 

 ders similar to that of the left side of plate 52 a, /6, and either incurv- 

 ing or excurving sides. 



The bone piece, plate 52, h, /lO, is not certainly an awl. Its condi- 

 tion renders a diagnosis impossible. We have called the two items 

 shown in plate 52, /8 and /9 (also found with burial 1, a male) war 

 club heads. They are similar to the items that Spinden (1908, p. 187, 

 pi. VIII, 33) calls digging-stick handles. It has also been suggested 

 that they were used as shaft smoothers, although this seems dubious. 



The notched, large, basalt point with expanding, incurved base 

 (pi. 52, a, /ll) had not previously been found in a cultural associa- 

 tion, although points of the tjrpe are not rare. None has been found, 

 to our knowledge, with contact material. They are probably arrow 

 points but differ widely from the others at Sheep Island. 



626583—61 22 



