[95] IDENTIFYING THE CAYUSE III SUBPHASE

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A representative sample from a typical Cayuse III Subphase assemblage is depicted in Figures 32 and 33. In the Vantage locale, such assemblages may be formally defined by a variety of reliable criteria, some of which may also be used to distinguish early and late subphase components. The most reliable of these are listed below.

1. Stemmed projectile points of the Upper Columbia Stemmed Complex (Type 8) were in use throughout the Cayuse III Subphase. As its title might indicate, this type contains many diverse forms of stemmed and shouldered points. Such diversity suggests that ideas about projectile point forms and processes of manufacture were in a state of flux, an observation borne out by the same tendency to heterogeneity in every other point type during the Cayuse III Subphase. Points of this type are most similar to a large group of stemmed forms common in The Dalles area over the last thousand years of prehistory. They evidently diffused northward from this area at the beginning of the Cayuse III Subphase.

2. Stemmed projectile points with open comer notches are common throughout the Cayuse III Subphase, but rare in earlier subphases. The most numerous and characteristic of these is the Wallula Rectangular-Stemmed Point (Type Variant 9A), a form of some standing in The Dalles area from whence it is thought to have diffused at the beginning of the Cayuse III Subphase.

3. Columbia Plateau Corner-Notched points are dominated by Type Variants 6A and 6B. It is estimated that points of these variants account for 50 to 60 percent of all Columbia Plateau Comer-Notched points and 30 to 35 percent of all stemmed projectile points. The origin of these points appears to date back to the Cayuse II Subphase where they are first introduced as a really tangible tradition. It is not known why they become common at the beginning of the Cayuse III Subphase. However, a general tendency toward the reduction of point size may in some way be an associated phenomenon.

4. Following upon the third point, a concomitant reduction occurs in all other varieties of the Columbia Plateau Comer-Notched point so that such specimens account for only 25 to 30 percent of all stemmed projectile points being manufactured.

5. The introduction of Plateau Pentagonal and Columbia Mule Ear knives occur in the latter portion of the Cayuse III Subphase. Both of these types are thought to have diffused northward from the area of The Dalles or the Middle Columbia where they are common prior to the beginning of the Cayuse III Subphase. That they did not diffuse northward as early as stemmed and shouldered or Wallula Rectangular-Stemmed points may be partially a function of the division of labor, provided such knives were predominately the property of women rather than men.

6. The introduction of the Columbia Plateau Side-Notched Point (Type 10) occurred some time shortly after the beginning of the subphase. The first of this type to be introduced at 45KT28 are rather crude and proportioned differently from later specimens, a fact which implies a short period of development during the early portion of the subphase. The Columbia Plateau [95/96] Side-Notched Point is believed to have diffused from the northern Plains. Evidence supporting this conclusion is presented in the comments on Type 10 stemmed projectile points.

7. The occurrence of stemmed projectile points of Type 11 also marks the Cayuse III Subphase. This criterion, though apparently valid, is not often applicable because Type 11 points are not common.

8. The manufacture of projectile points directly from flakes rather than triangular preforms is a technique diffused from The Dalles during the Cayuse III Subphase. It is used primarily in conjunction with the manufacture of points which belong to the Upper Columbia Stemmed Complex (Type 8), also believed to have diffused from the area of The Dalles at the beginning of the Cayuse III Subphase.

9. Greatly expanded Trade, reflected in the increased abundance of formerly common trade goods and the introduction of new commodities, is one of the most fundamental characteristics of the Cayuse III Subphase. Items like abalone, catlinite, and even such exotics as turquoise were making their way into the Plateau probably for the first time. At the same time other trade commodities were entering the Plateau in quantities much larger than ever before. These included obsidian, Olivella beads, Dentalia, pecten shells, and ground nephrite adzes.

10. The saucer-shaped pit house was introduced, probably quite late in the subphase. As more information accumulates about such structures, it may be possible to use them in defining a fourth Cayuse subphase. This would depend on what overlap existed in the use of saucer-shaped and flat-floored, vertical-walled pit houses as well as upon the analyst's preference for choosing subphase criteria. Presently, I regard saucer-shaped structures as another in a long list of items diffused into the Vantage locale during the Cayuse III Subphase.

11. Trade items of European origin and other evidences of early historic contacts are characteristic of the tenninal portion of the Cayuse III Subphase.

Apart from major criteria such as these, there are a number of other traits that may be tentatively proposed as characteristic of all or part of the Cayuse III Subphase. These include: (1) the occurrence of cist cremations; (2) the introduction of Type 1 gambling bones, bilaterally barbed antler projectile points, and art motifs from the area of The Dalles; (3) the increased use of stone beads and pendants; (4) the use of small quantities of basalt in the manufacture of projectile points; and (5) the incision of geometric designs on Dentalia beads.

It must be emphasized that all of these criteria are applicable to the Vantage locale in specific and to the Upper Columbia-Sun Lakes area in general. Although equivalents of the Cayuse III Subphase occur throughout the Plateau, many of the specific criteria by which they may be defined are different from those applied in the Vantage locale.

PLATEAU WIDE EQUIVALENTS OF THE CAYUSE III SUBPHASE

Four general observations may be made about the formal characteristics of the Cayuse III Subphase in the Vantage locale. (1) There was a great deal of diffusion northward along the Columbia River from the area of The Dalles and the Middle Columbia into the Vantage locale and the Upper Columbia-Sun Lakes area. (2) Diffusion was also occurring in an east-west direction between the Plains and the Plateau. (3) Trade throughout the Vantage locale and, inferentially, the Plateau was greatly increased. (4) This occurred in the very late prehistoric and early historic periods. [96]

[97] Comparable events appear to have been occurring all over the Plateau during this late prehistoric-early historic period. Cayuse III components, used in the strict sense of that terminology, occur throughout the Upper Columbia and Sun Lakes areas. Representative sites include 45KT6 (Massey and Nelson 1958), Bed B of Cedar Cave (Swanson 1962b), House Pits 12 and 14 at Schaake Village (Swanson 1958), upper remains at Duck Cave (Swanson 1962b), House Pits 6 and 7 at 45KT13 (Osborne 1956-67), 45CH57 (Gunkel 1961), 45CH62 (Gunkel 1961), 45DO51 (Gunkel 1961), 45GR2 (Mills and Osborne 1952), 450K5 (Osborne, Crabtree, and Bryan 1952), 450K7 (Osborne, Crabtree, and Bryan 1952), 45OK2 (Osborne, Crabtree, and Bryan 1952), the bulk of the sites reported by Collier, et at, (1942), 45GR78 (Osborne 1959) 45GR80 (Osborne 1959), the house pit at 45GR88 (Osborne 1959), 45GR74 (Osborne 1959), 45GR91 (Osborne 1959), 45GR94 (Osborne 1959), 45GR27 and 45GR3O (Daugherty 1952).

It is obvious that parallel events have occurred elsewhere in the Plateau. Highly specific data for the Canadian Plateau are not yet available, but the spread of small side-notched projectile points through the East Kootenay region (Borden 1956) and the Fraser River canyon is apparent.

Moving southward along the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains, our only comparative data come from the Yakima Valley (Smith 1910; Warren 1959). Warren's (1959) work at the Wenas Creek Site is particularly revealing. In a series of stratified deposits, only the most recent contained an assemblage which closely matched anything from the arid interior of the Plateau. This component (XA and XB) is definitely an equivalent to the Cayuse III Subphase, a fact which suggests that much of the Yakima Valley may have been archaeologically very distinct from adjacent sections of the Plateau prior to the Cayuse III period.

Throughout the Middle Columbia and along the lower Snake River, Cayuse III equivalents are abundant. Representative components may be found at Fish Hook Island (Lelander 1958; Daugherty and Combes 1963: personal communication), 45BN3 (Osborne 1957), 45BN53 (Osborne 1957). Rabbit Island II (Crabtree 1957), 35UM17 (Shiner 1961), 45BN6 (Shiner 1961), 35WS5 (Shiner 1953), and 45WW6 (Shiner 1961).

This brief overview of the Plateau has been presented in order to demonstrate that the Cayuse III Subphase is not an isolated phenomenon, but finds equivalents throughout the Washington and British Columbia plateaus.

THE FRONTIER EXPANSION HYPOTHESIS

It is the contention of this argument that the Cayuse III Subphase and its Plateau-wide equivalents represent an archaeological record of the direct and indirect effects which the expanding American frontier had on Plateau culture between 1600 and 1810 A.D.

Ethnographic data indicate that Plateau culture was undergoing many important changes during the late prehistoric period. Most frequently emphasized is the effect that Plains culture, itself a product of westward expansion, had on the peoples of the Plateau (e.g., see Teit 1930; Ray 1939). However, it is also evident that the Plateau was exerting an influence of its own at this time. For example, the practice of sweating evidently diffused to the coast of Washington, and the prophet dance may have been exported to Nevada and California (Aberle 1959).

Large-scale Plains-Plateau contacts were probably unfeasible or unthought of prior to the advent of the horse. This mode of transportation must have greatly increased the mobility of both groups and individuals throughout the Plateau, not only resulting in a tremendously increased rate of contact between the Plateau, the Plains, and the Great Basin, but also increased interchange within [97/98] the Plateau itself, and between the Plateau and the coast. With more varied and intensive cultural contacts, trading patterns must have been profoundly affected. Vast new markets were opened up and old ones geographically extended. The Plateau became a kind of exchange point along a number of lengthened trade routes.

These ethnographically deduced relationships seem to be clearly reflected by the Cayuse III Subphase and its equivalents throughout the Plateau. Abalone, catlinite, turquoise, and Olivella shells had to be traded over great distances, while adzes, Dentalia, and other common goods flood the Plateau in large quantities. Plains-Plateau relationships are further testified to by the introduction of small side-notched points, probably from the northern Plains.

At the same time, mass diffusion within the Plateau produces a thought-provoking phenomenon. The Cayuse I and Cayuse II periods apparently saw a series of regional developments within the Plateau insofar as the specifics of material culture were concerned. With the coming of the Cayuse III period these regional assemblages were diffused, coalescing to form what might be described as something approaching a pan-Plateau material culture extending from the Okanagon Highlands on the north to The Dalles on the south, and from the Cascade Mountains on the west to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains on the east. The significance of this apparent convergence is potentially great because it may provide data by which we may explore some of the continuities and discontinuities between the archaeological and ethnological measurement of culture change.

The Succession of Pit Houses during the Cayuse Phase

Based on data from 45KT28 and on unpublished research in the Vantage locale, it is apparent that there was an orderly succession of three house types during the Cayuse Phase. The earliest of these types, a deeply excavated pit house with interior benches, is by no means a simple structure and thus poses some real problems in dealing with the introduction and age of pit houses throughout the Plateau.

There are at present two basic ways of dealing with this problem. The first postulates that pit houses have been in use in the Plateau for a considerable period of time, perhaps for as much as 4,000 or 6,000 years. Three lines of evidence may be interpreted so as to support this view. (1). Two pit houses in the Vantage locale (Swanson 1962b: Schalkop Site) may derive from the Frenchman Springs Phase and would thus date roughly between 800 and 1700 B.C. (2) A possible pit house was encountered in association with the original Cold Springs Phase assemblage (Shiner 1961). If the association and identification are correct, the use of pit houses would be pushed back to between 2000 and 4000 B.C. (3) The common occurrence of structurally complicated pit houses in the beginning of the Cayuse period suggested a long period of development not yet represented in our data because of the lopsided emphasis upon riverine archaeology.

The alternative position holds that pit houses were introduced into the Plateau at the beginning of the Cayuse Phase. Advocates of this position regard possible earlier occurrences as in need of more documentation and considerable substantiation. Complicated benched houses common in the early Cayuse period are thought to be either the products of diffusion or a trait carried into the Plateau by an invading culture. However, it is stressed, although the emphasis on riverine archaeology may indeed have biased our view of Plateau prehistory, we can base realistic hypotheses only upon the data which we actually control.

No matter what view one takes, it must be admitted that the origin of pit houses in the Plateau is very imperfectly understood. The distribution of house types and settlement patterns in [98/99] relationship to the economic round has yet to be thoroughly studied for any period in the prehistoric record of the Plateau.

The three house types characteristic of the Cayuse Phase in the Vantage locale are present throughout the Plateau, but occur in greatly varying abundance from one area to another.

Type 1. The earliest house type is a deeply excavated structure possessing an interior bench which traverses the entire house wall. There is considerable variation in house size and outline. The bench may also vary considerably in width and in its height above the house floor. However, both the bench and the floor are level. Other structural details such as storage pits and fire hearths occur erratically.

This house type is evidently abundant along the Upper Columbia and present along the lower Snake River, but it is as yet not formally reported from the Middle Columbia. In the Vantage locale it constitutes the major defining criterion of the Cayuse I Subphase.

Type 2. This type possesses vertical walls and a level floor. No bench is present, and the house excavation does not commonly attain a depth greater than five feet. Outline, size, and structural details are quite variable.

Along the Upper Columbia this house type is abundant during the Cayuse II and III subphases. It also occurs in reduced number in many other areas of the Plateau, particularly along the Middle Columbia.

Type 3. Type 3 pit houses are simple, saucer-shaped structures with sloping walls and more or less level floors depending on the house size. The outline is nearly always round or slightly oval. Size, however, varies considerably, and house diameters in excess of 50 feet are not uncommon. Little is presently known of other structural details.

Type 3 structures are characteristic of the late Cayuse III Subphase and its equivalents throughout the Plateau.

The succession of these three house types, from walled houses with benches to walled houses without benches, to nonwalled houses, suggests a tendency toward structural simplification throughout the Cayuse Phase. It should be mentioned, however, that a simplification in pit form may not entail a simplification in the house superstructure. In fact, the exceedingly large structures sometimes encountered in the Cayuse III period may have required a superstructure more complicated than any of their predecessors.

Winter Village Patterns

A map of the house depressions along with their dimensions, depths, and outlines is presented in Figure 4. Unfortunately, it is of little use in studying specific village patterns because the depressions mapped represent nearly 1,800 years of sporadic house building. However, from the information acquired at 45KT28 and many other sites in the Vantage locale, a few general points may be made concerning village patterns in the area. (1) Winter villages were nearly always situated on the floodplain of the Columbia River or on high river terraces adjacent to it. (2) There was a tendency to reuse old house depressions, a pattern which may have contributed to the stability of many village sites. (3) During any particular winter the average village was probably relatively small, most likely on the order of from 5 to 15 houses. [99]

[100] Early villages of contemporaneously occupied houses are not easily identified in the archaeological record due to erosion, deposition, house pit re-utilization, and the limited nature of archaeological sampling at any particular archaeological site. On the other hand, villages of Type 3 structures are easily identifiable on the basis of simple examinations of house depressions. Such villages may follow at least two plans. (1) Houses may be tightly bunched together in a roughly circular or rectangular pattern. Houses 3, 5, 9, 10, and 11 represent such a village at 45KT28. (2) The houses may be strung out in a long line parallel to the river bank. An excellent example of this arrangement occurs at 45KT27, a site in the middle of Quilomene Bar.

Correlations with Swanson's Cayuse Sequence

The Cayuse Phase was originally defined by Earl Swanson (Swanson 1956; 1958; 1962b). Because this original definition is at odds in many of its particulars with the view of the Cayuse Phase presented in this report, I feel obligated to correlate our respective data. Hopefully this will reduce to a minimum the confusion which might otherwise be generated by the apparent discontinuities between our published views.

At the outset we must give Swanson considerable credit for his accomplishments in the Vantage area. Working with small samples which posed many problems both in correlation and interpretation, Swanson proposed the first series of formally defined phases for any area in the Plateau. Although Swanson's absolute chronology and his breakdown of subphases may be vigorously contested, his identification of major phases and their significance in Plateau prehistory stands out as a major achievement.

Primary among his contributions was the identification of the Cayuse Phase with the origin of ethnographic Plateau culture. By properly defining this phase and linking it to the emergence of winter villages, Swanson called attention to the most important single shift in cultural patterns evident in Plateau prehistory. Swanson estimated that this dramatic change, which marked the beginning of the Cayuse Phase, had taken place at approximately 1200 A.D. This date, based on uncertain geological estimates, has since proved in error if we are to believe a series of C14 dates and more recent geological estimates for sites both on the Snake and Columbia rivers. These dates suggest that the Cayuse Phase began in the Vantage locale sometime near the beginning of the Christian era, most probably between 50 B.C. and 250 A.D.

On the basis of geological estimates of age and pitifully small samples of material culture, Swanson proposed a breakdown of the Cayuse Phase into three subphases. These subphases do not correspond in any simple relationship with the three subphases proposed in this report, and the fact that both Swanson and I have recognized three subphases is coincidental.

Swanson has identified seven Cayuse components, each from a different site. (1) The houses at Schaake Village he assigns to the Cayuse III and historic periods; applying the criteria in this report, they may be assigned to the Cayuse III Subphase. (2) He assigns Bed B of Cedar Cave to the Cayuse II Subphase; according to the criteria proposed in this report, it is definitely a Cayuse III component. (3) Swanson suggests that the upper remains at Shelter 8B are Cayuse I or II in age; a pentagonal point or knife suggests that they probably represent the Cayuse III Subphase of this report. (4) He suggests that the house pits at the Lee Site document a Cayuse III occupation; by the defmitions offered in this report, they are probably Cayuse III in age, (5) Finally, he suggests that Shelter 8C and Crabtree Cave contain Cayuse III components and that Hole-in-the-Wall Cave contains a Cayuse I component; here the samples are insufficient to stipulate any subphase designation in accordance with the criteria set forth in this report. [100]

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LAST REVISED: 23 AUG 2015