The Archaeology of the Yakima ValleySmith, Harlan Ingersoll
History
The Archaeology of the Yakima Valley
Smith, Harlan Ingersoll
Yakima River Valley (Wash.) -- Antiquities
The processes of manufacture employed in this area as indicated by the
archaeological objects found include fracturing by chipping and flaking,
pecking or bruising, grinding, polishing, cutting by grooving and
breaking, incising, whittling and gouging, and drilling. The materials
worked by each of these processes may be seen among the specimens here
figured and described. Spinden states[213] that in the Nez Perce area
chipped implements were made by the men and that the pecked artifacts
were made by the women.
[213] Spinden, p. 185.
LIFE HISTORIES OF MANUFACTURED OBJECTS.
The story of the manufacture of the objects found from the securing of
the raw material to their finished and to their worn out and broken
condition is not shown completely in the case of more than one class of
objects, viz., chipped implements, but in a number of cases the signs of
manufacture have not been entirely obliterated and some specimens are
figured and described which are undoubtedly in process of manufacture.
Plate III, Fig. 1 shows a quarry from which material for the manufacture
of chipped implements was obtained. A description of this has been given
on p. 16. Here could be seen the hammers, one of which is illustrated in
Fig. 40, that were used in breaking up the raw material, and the
material in various stages of chipping and flaking together with the
waste products. In Plates I and II may be seen the more or less
completed chipped implements. If points of antler were used as flakers,
they were either not found or recognized by us. According to Mr. Cotton,
there are numerous chips within the "fort" mentioned on p. 82. One other
example of a series illustrating the life history of an object may be
mentioned, namely, that of the pestles. Many oblong pebbles suitable
for pestles without being changed from their natural form were seen in
both the Yakima and the Columbia Valleys. Other pebbles required but
slight shaping to bring them to the required form. Fig. 22 illustrates
such a pebble which is in process of shaping by pecking or bruising and
Fig. 43 shows a suitable tool for executing the work. After being fully
shaped by this process such pestles were polished but the materials used
for this purpose, whether sandstones and similar abrasives, the horse
tail rush or the bare hand, are not known.
WAR.
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