The Archaeology of the Yakima ValleySmith, Harlan Ingersoll
History
The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll
Yakima River Valley (Wash.) -- Antiquities
Cultural elements, especially those associated with the horse and with
the new mode of life which it made possible, probably came from the
region to the southeast, and show a great similarity to the Plains type
of culture. How much the Plains culture had influenced the Plateau type
before the introduction of the horse, is a question.[448] On the
Columbia River, near the mouth of the Yakima, were numerous Indians who
were visited by Clark in 1805, but he says that while he saw a few
horses, the Indians appeared to make but little use of them. If these
were the Yakima Indians there must have been quite a change in their
manner of living in the next few years.[449] This agrees very well with
the time of the introduction of the horse among the Lower Thompson
Indians towards the close of the eighteenth century, according to
Teit.[450] All this would tend to show that the horse, while common in
the Yakima country, about that time, had not yet affected the earlier
customs of the natives.
[448] Lewis, p. 179.
[449] Lewis, p. 184; Ross, (b), I, p. 19.
[450] Teit, (a), p. 257.
The early culture throughout the great area of which this is a part,
according to Lewis, was of a very simple and undeveloped character,
which probably accounts for the rapidity with which eastern types were
assimilated when once introduced.[451]
[451] Lewis, p. 180.
Summing up: the prehistoric culture of the Yakima area resembled that of
its recent inhabitants, as it will be remembered was the case in the
Thompson River region, the Lower Fraser Valley and the Puget Sound
country including the coast from Comox on Vancouver Island to Olympia.
As a typical plateau culture, being affiliated with the neighboring
cultures to the north, east and south, it presented a sharp contrast to
both the present and past cultures of the coast to the west. Compared
with other branches of the Plateau culture area it must be considered
inferior in complexity to its northern neighbor of the southern interior
of British Columbia and also to the adjacent branch near The Dalles to
the south. While each of these divisions has been influenced by the
others more especially in the past, differentiations due to environment
or specific historical conditions lead to local variations without
obscuring an essential unity of cultural traits.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
BANCROFT, H. H. The Native Races of the Pacific States of
North America. 5 volumes. 1874-1882.
CATLIN, GEORGE. O-Kee-Pa. A religious Ceremony and other
Customs of the Mandans. Philadelphia, 1867.
COX, ROSS. Adventures on the Columbia River, etc. New
York, 1832.
DE SMET, FATHER. Life, Letters and Travels of Father
Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J., 1801-1873. Edited by
Chittenden and Richardson. 4 volumes. New York, 1905.
DOUGLAS. D. Sketch of a Journey to the Northwestern part
of the Continent of North America during the years
1824-27. (Oregon Historical Society Quarterly, 5-6,
1904-05.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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