The Archaeology of the Yakima ValleySmith, Harlan Ingersoll
History
The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll
Yakima River Valley (Wash.) -- Antiquities
There are only two specimens, of which I am aware, that resemble this.
One (T-22107, 177 II) consists of seven fragments of a thin piece of
antler found by Mrs. James Terry at Umatilla, Oregon, only about 83
miles in a southerly direction from Tampico. The back of this specimen
is largely disintegrated, except on the two dog heads, and these being
only about 5 mm. thick suggest that the whole figure was thin. The
carving (Fig. 123) is in much greater relief than in the specimen from
Tampico, although some of the lines are merely incisions. The tongue
projects between, but not beyond, the lips. The cheeks are raised and
there is considerable character to the face. The nose is aquiline and
narrow, but the alæ are indicated. The orbits are sunken and horizontal
oblong pits evidently indicate the eyes. The eyebrows are raised. Two
horizontal incisions extend across the brow. Below the chin, at the
left, are four incisions in a raised piece. This seems to represent a
hand held with the fingers to the neck. A similar hand was probably at
the right. A foot, with four toes in relief projecting above the brow as
high as do the eyebrows, rests immediately above the upper horizontal
incision and apparently indicates that some animal, possibly a bird,
stood upon the human head. The fragment, however, is not sufficiently
large to settle these points. Two of the other fragments are apparently
intended to represent the heads of dogs. The eyes are indicated by the
common circle and dot design; while the nostrils in one are represented
by drilled dots. The shape of the heads is brought out by the carving of
the edge of the object. The fragments are broken off at the neck, and
the lower side of each shows the finished surface of the back of the
object. The remaining fragments show little or nothing. The animal heads
and the feet and hands suggest the possibility that in some cases animal
forms were combined in such figures, as on the Northwest Coast, although
the general style of art of the object is like neither Haida nor
Kwakiutl work, but more like the carvings of Puget Sound and the lower
Columbia River. The fact that the carving of this face is more in relief
helps to explain the intent of the author of the Tampico specimen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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