July 12, 1883] 



NA TURE 



249 



THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SOUTHERN 

 CALIFORNIA ' 



A VALUABLE contribution to American anthropology 

 has recently appeared, published under the auspices 

 of the U.S. Government, forming the seventh volume of 

 the " Reports of the U.S. Geographical Surveys West of 

 the One Hundredth Meridian." It deals mainly with the 

 remains of the Indians of Southern California, their 

 implements, weapons, vessels, and ornaments. 



The observers and collectors were those engaged upon 

 the work of the survey, some of them detailed for work 

 of a different character, but fortunately able to render 

 valuable assistance in explorations for archaeological 

 finds. 



The letterpress embodies the work of F. W. Putnam, 

 the distinguished curator of the Peabody Museum, whose 

 editorial revision and direction has moulded the whole, 

 that of A- A. Abbott, the veteran explorer of the antiqui- 

 ties of New Jersey, H. C. Yarrow, S. S. Haldeman, A. S. 

 Gatschet, H. W. Henshaw, and Lucien Carr, whose report 

 upon the measurements of the crania from California is 

 most suggestive and important. Besides their own contribu- 

 tions to the principal subject, these gentlemen have freely 

 used the short descriptions of the personal visits of the 

 officers of the army and others to the Pueblo villages of 

 New Mexico and Arizona. 



The present inhabitants of Central and Southern Cali- 

 fornia are regarded as a degenerate race deteriorated 

 from an ancestral people of superior parts, and they afford 

 to-day a marked contrast with the more advanced and 

 intelligent races of Northern California. This inferiority 

 has been recognised by all observers, and was compre- 

 hended by the Jesuit missionaries, whose unfortunate 

 system, however much its zealous propagation recom- 

 mended their vigour and sincerity, only helped the natu- 

 ral tendency and hastened the course of a degradation 

 already under way. 



As early as 1534 the Spanish explorers invaded this 

 region, and met in many instances a warlike and deter- 

 mined resistance. The priest and missal followed the 

 sword and helmet, and completed the destruction of the 

 people by processes more insidious than those of the 

 warrior, but scarcely less fatal. Missions were esta- 

 blished, the natives proselytised, not always by moral 

 suasion, and brought under the control of the missions ; 

 they existed in a state of appanage, and became listless 

 and degraded. 



The natives of the immediate southern border of 

 California show an improvement over those of Central 

 California, approximating to the superior type in Northern 

 California, a contrast which has so impressed the minds 

 of students as to have started the assumption that the 

 Central Californians belong to a different race, and are to 

 be referred to Malay and Chinese origins. It is however 

 with the description of the implements, utensils, orna- 

 ments, &c, of the southern Indians as exhumed from 

 burial mounds, and the story told by such mortuary relics 

 of the habits of their ancestors, that this volume is filled. 

 Attention had been directed by the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution to the area upon the coast of California opposite 

 the group of Santa Barbara Islands, and to these islands 

 themselves, as a promising field for archaeological search. 

 The indications followed rewarded the Survey with many 

 important objects, enough to permit a conception of the 

 life of their makers. 



These latter were in the stone age depending upon 

 stone and bone implements as tools of war, chase, and 

 industry. They seem to have been almost entirely with- 

 out a knowledge of potter)', but this need may have been 

 scarcely felt from their skill in the manufacture of stone 



x *' Report upon the U.S. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hun- 

 dredth Meridian in charge of First Lieutenant Geo. M. Wheeler." Vol. 

 vii. " Archa; jlogy." (Washington, 1879.) 



vessels formed from steatite masses, and of all sizes, and 

 adapted to the commonest domestic uses. 



This series of objects affords a striking example of 

 their patience and ingenuity. They are described under 

 the designation of "Cooking pots and food vessels." 

 They are in the main oblate spheroidal vessels of soap- 

 stone thickened over the base and sides exposed to the 

 heat, and thinning towards the rim of the circular opening 

 upon the top. The smaller specimens are frequently 

 much finished in their smoothness, and vary enough 

 in size and shape to suggest that they were the pro- 

 perty of individuals, and prepared and kept for the 

 personal use of their owners. These small vessels 

 often show mending where fractured, a row of holes 

 being perforated upon the two opposite sides of a crack, 

 and the edges drawn together by sinews which are sunk 

 in grooves, over which has been plastered asphaltum. 

 Asphaltum figures in various ways, and was constantly 

 resorted to as a convenient cement ; it was employed to 

 fasten their stone-bol.s and arrow-heads to their shafts, 

 to attach mouth-pieces to their pipes, the line to their 

 fish-hooks, &c, it formed a surface over their objects 

 upon which ornaments could be imbedded in rude deco- 

 ration, and figures on their shell beads in spiral lines of 

 black. 



Besides the ollas, various dish-like utensils are figured 

 with one or more holes for suspension after use, or for 

 removal from the fire, being probably used as baking 

 pans. Stone mortars of basalt and sandstone, small 

 colour mixers, dishes of shell (Halio/is), and cups formed 

 of fish vertebrae complete the list of serviceable vessels. 



The smoking-pipes, which are carefully studied and 

 described by Dr. Abbott, are long, straight, conical, and 

 sub-cylindrical tubes of steatite, displaying no great 

 variety of form and but inconspicuous attempts at orna- 

 mentation. The straight tube corresponding to the bowl 

 of the common pipe is in line with the opening at the 

 insertion of the mouthpiece, and it would seem that 

 tubes of bone or reed inserted for stems must have been 

 curved to permit of their use in any normal position. 



The chipped flints are of striking beauty, and will be 

 recognised by all who have examined specimens of orna- 

 mental spears and daggers from this region. They are 

 shown of natural size upon two plates of considerable 

 beauty, and vary from 4 inches to 8 or 10 inches in 

 length, lenticular in section, and present ripple-like and 

 corrugated surfaces of very delicate sculpture. The 

 chapters upon perforated stones, miscellaneous objects 

 made of stone, and textile fabrics are especially inter- 

 esting. 



The claim of any great age for these relics seems pre- 

 cluded by their association with glass beads, bronze cups 

 and platters, iron swords, nails, knives, and pistol 

 barrels, all pointing unmistakably to contact with the 

 Spaniards. Yet there can be but little doubt that they 

 perfectly represent the arts of life prevailing among the 

 ancestors of their owners and makers for ages before the 

 appearance of the white man, and that many are them- 

 selves heirlooms descended from a great antiquity. 



The concluding chapter of Part I. is a suggestive sum- 

 mary of the results of cranial measurements, and the 

 writer, Lucien Carr, indicates the past presence of two 

 races whose intermingling remains are now found upon 

 the Santa Barbara Islands, one— the dolichocephals or 

 long heads — presenting a picture of subjugation and de- 

 cadence ; the other — the brachycephals or short heads — 

 spread over the mainland, occupying the northern islands, 

 and pressing upon the precarious remnant of their prede- 

 cessors on the southern islands. 



Part II. is a diversified compilation of a number of 

 personal narratives of visits to the Pueblo villages, some 

 chapters upon the implements and pottery of their 

 occupants, which seem of a degraded type compared witb. 

 the productions of their probable ancestors, and a shor 



