The Archaeology of the Yakima ValleySmith, Harlan Ingersoll
History
The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll
Yakima River Valley (Wash.) -- Antiquities
Fig. 25 illustrates a pestle, the top of which is broken off. There are
two grooves encircling the somewhat cylindrical striking head. The
material is a light blue hard porphoritic rock. These two specimens are
from Priest Rapids.[96] The pestle shown in Fig. 26 is from the Yakima
River, five miles below Old Yakima. It has a hat-shaped top and a
cylindrical striking head a little larger at the top than at the bottom,
is somewhat like the typical pestles of the Thompson River region,[97]
and is in the collection of Mr. York. Another has a slightly wider brim
to the hat-shaped top, a body concave in outline and the striking head
is larger at the top than at the bottom, while a third has a medium
sized brim, a body bulging in the middle and a long cylindrical striking
head. The last two specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck, and
are from the Yakima Valley within eight miles of North Yakima.[98]
[96] In the collection of Mr. Mires, and Museum negative no. 44335,
9-1.
[97] Smith, (d), p. 138.
[98] Museum negative no. 44454, 2-3.
The specimen shown in Fig. 27 was found in a grave with beads and
resembles the typical pestles of Lytton except that it has no nipple on
the top, which is of the shape of the tops of the typical pestles of
northern and western Vancouver Island. Another of nearly the same shape
but less regular was found on the surface of the Yakima Valley within
eight miles of North Yakima. A third specimen 234 mm. long, also found
within the above mentioned limits, is made of a concavely flaring
pebble. A groove is pecked part way around near the top as if to carve
the knob and begin the reduction of the top of the shaft. There is also
a pecked surface on one side near the base, apparently the beginning of
an attempt to form a striking head by first removing irregularities. The
one shown in Fig. 28 was found within eight miles of North Yakima and is
of rather unusual shape, having a short striking head of the shape of
the typical pestles of northern and western Vancouver Island. The
slightly bulging body and exceedingly small, nearly flat knob at the top
are entirely different from those of the pestles usually found in any of
this area, or the country adjacent to it on the north and west. These
four specimens are in the collection of Mr. Janeck.[99]
[99] Museum negative no. 44454, 2-3.
There are found in the Nez Perce region[100] short pestles with
dome-shaped tops, cylindrical bodies and rather long striking heads of
the form of triangular or quadrangular prisms with rounded corners
slightly larger at the top than at the bottom[101] and such pestles with
hat-shaped tops, although one has a flat top, slightly expanding shafts
and long striking heads, larger at the top than at the bottom.
[100] Cf. Spinden, Figs. 11, 19, 21, 23, Plate VI; also Plate VIII,
Figs. 10, 11.
[101] Spinden, p. 186, Plate VIII, Fig. 9.
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