552 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 588. 



first part of the field season of 1903. These 

 resulted in the discovery of a number of speci- 

 mens and human skeletons, as well as the 

 securing of several dozen photographs and a 

 mass of field notes. Other data have been se- 

 cured, both before the expedition and since, 

 from collections and museums. The following 

 preliminary account is made up from these 

 results which may not be published in full for 

 some time to come. 



Central Washington is arid. In most re- 

 spects the climate resembles that of the south- 

 ern interior of British Columbia to the north. 

 The summers are perhaps warmer and the 

 winters colder. There is less vegetation and 

 no trees are seen except in river bottoms or 

 where irrigation has been successfully prose- 

 cuted. The prehistoric people had no great 

 staples and had to rely upon perhaps even a 

 greater variety of natural products than did 

 the people farther north. 



A glance at the linguistic map of Washing- 

 ton shows the great number of tribes inhabit- 

 ing the general region. This suggests the 

 possibility of the existence of more than one 

 culture area within the same territory, al- 

 though, of course, we may find several tribes, 

 especially if they be subjected to the same 

 environment, all within one culture area. 



Definite age can not be assigned to the 

 archeological finds, since here, as to the north, 

 the remains are found at no great depth or in 

 soil the surface of which is frequently shifted. 

 Some of the graves are known to be of mod- 

 ern Indians, but many of them antedate the 

 advent of the white race in this region or at 

 least contain no objects of European manu- 

 facture such as glass beads or iron knives. 

 On the other hand, there was found no posi- 

 tive evidence of the great antiquity of any of 

 the skeletons, artifacts or structures found in 

 the area. 



The implements used in securing food in- 

 clude many chipped projectile points of bright- 

 colored agates, chalcedonies and similar stone. 

 Several small quarries of this material with 



580, Vol. XIX., No. 484, April 8, 1904, and Rec- 

 ords of the Pa^t, pp. 119-127, Vol. IV., Part IV., 

 April, 1905. 



adjacent workshops were found. While the 

 bulk of the stone used was quite different 

 from the black basalt employed to the north, 

 yet a few points chipped from that material 

 were also found. Points rubbed out of stone 

 or bone were rare. Digging stick handles 

 were seen, but no sap-scrapers were found. 



Some small heaps of fresh-water clam shells 

 were examined, but these being only about 

 five feet in diameter and as many inches in 

 depth are hardly to be compared to the im- 

 mense shell heaps of the coast. Net-sinkers 

 were made by notching and also by grooving 

 pebbles. Such sinkers were very rare to the 

 north and much more numerous here than on 

 the coast, except near the mouth of the ■ Co- 

 lumbia River, where grooved sinkers, usually 

 slightly different from these, are found. 



For preparing food pestles were used. These 

 differ from those found either to the north or 

 on the coast, many of them being much longer. 

 Some had tops in the form of animal heads. 

 Fish knives made of slate were not found and, 

 it is believed, pottery was not made in the 

 region. 



Sites of ancient semi-underground houses, 

 like those found in the Thompson River 

 region, were photographed. Here, however, 

 stones were seen on top of the embankment. 

 No saucer-shaped depressions were seen, but 

 circles of stones were found, which similarly 

 may mark lodge sites, since the modem Indian 

 has a lodge identical in shape with that found 

 to the north, where saucer-shaped depressions 

 occur. Pairs of arrow-shaft smoothers were 

 seen. 



An idea of the ancient form of dress was 

 obtained from a costumed human figure carved 

 in antler.' It had a feather head-dress like 

 that of the present Indians of the region from 

 here to as far east as the Dakotas. The hair 



' Figured and described in the Bulletin of the 

 American Museum of Natural History, Vol. XX., 

 Article XVI., pp. 19.5-203, and abstracted in The 

 Scientific American Supplement, pp. 23876-8, Vol. 

 LVIII., No. 1490, July 23, 1904, and in Records 

 of the Past, I. c. Data has since been secured 

 which verifies most of the conclusions and com- 

 pletes other parts but disproves certain minor 

 speculations. 



