pip. No.%fr' SHEEP ISLAND — OSBORNE, BRYAN, CRABTREE 299 



reservoir. The obvious conclusion is that the Sahaptin buried their 

 dead in the pits or cists and the many burials found or reported were 

 Sahaptin. This is a more sensible solution than a postulated migra- 

 tion and an assignment of archeological traits to a linguistic group. 



Also, there are facts of distribution that do not tally with Garth's 

 theory. Collier and his associates found no cist type or rock-slide 

 graves above the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia (Collier, 

 Hudson, and Ford, 1942, p. 42), although this area is deep in Salish 

 territory. The antler figure found by Smith does not impress us as 

 being in a "Plains-type dress." Its relationships to the probably 

 improperly called ghost art of the Columbia are indubitable but that 

 art style is ancient and one that was highly developed and certainly 

 centered in The Dalles-Columbia region long before the time that 

 Garth assigns (early historic) for his Salish migration into the area. 

 It would thus controvert his contentions. 



9. Strong exception must be taken to the statement (p. 54) that his- 

 toric Salish culture is "widely divergent" from either the historic 

 Sahaptin or that of the cremation pits. The only wide divergencies 

 would be between the late Sahaptin-Plains cultural overlay and a 

 conservative Salish group such as the Okanagan. Eay (1939, p. 149) 

 points out that — 



in the American Plateau, a linguistic transition occurs, this time involving the 

 Salish and Sahaptin stocks. The boundary crosses the Plateau laterally about 

 two degrees (180 miles) south of the Canadian boundary. Thus the primary 

 cultural division in the Plateau runs parallel to the primary linguistic boundary 

 but nearly two hundred miles north of it ! The linguistic boundary itself in no 

 way corresponds to cultural transitions, even of a secondary order. 



Possibly the Sahaptin exposed their dead recently; if so, it was 

 probably part of what Ray (1939) calls the Plains overlay. It would 

 seem likely that the cremation pits were Sahaptin inasmuch as they 

 are found in Sahaptin country, but for no other reason. Ethnogra- 

 phers would, one can be sure, be happy to have the data which led 

 Garth to list British Columbia cremation practices (Carrier?) as late. 

 Garth says (p. 64) that there is little evidence of a prehistoric Salish 

 culture in the area; we Imow of none, and, frankly, have not the 

 slightest background for determining the older manifestations, so far 

 found, as either Salish or Sahaptin. 



Also on page 54 Garth lists a series of traits "common to historic 

 Sahaptins and the cremation complex." They may be briefly re- 

 viewed here as a finale to this section. Exposure of the dead was 

 very possibly a Sahaptin trait but it was certainly not common to all 

 Sahaptin; its association with the cremations is largely conjecture 

 and should be so labeled. Eay (1942, p. 216, element 5677) lists mat 

 wrapping as almost Plateau-wide, being absent only in northern 

 groups (Carrier, Shuswap, Chilcotin) ; it has, thus, both a Salish 



