The Cayuse Phase

Introduction

[37] The Cayuse Phase is abundantly represented in the archaeology and literature of the Upper Columbia, although it remained for Earl Swanson (1956; 1958; 1962b) to identify it as a phase and suggest what its significance might be in the prehistory of the Columbia Plateau. Due to the lack of well defined sequences elsewhere along the Upper Columbia, there has been no previous attempt at a detailed examination of Swanson's proposed Cayuse Phase. Fortunately, stratigraphic relationships and the large quantity of artifacts from 45KT28 allow a detailed analysis of the local manifestation of the Cayuse Phase, while recently published evidence from other parts of the Columbia Plateau permits a more inclusive comparative analysis.

The Cayuse Phase assemblages from 45KT28 contain 3,983 tools, tremendous quantities of bone and flaking detritus, and numerous site features, including many pit houses. In order to cope with the many lines of inference which these data suggest, the analysis of the Cayuse Phase has been divided into six sections which deal with (1) the age, duration, and characteristics of the phase, (2) implications of the phase for the prehistory of the Columbia Plateau, (3) stratigraphic interrelation [37/38] ships between the Cayuse Phase subcomponents at 45KT28, (4) the three local Cayuse Phase sub-phases, their respective subcomponents, characteristics, and significance, (5) the development of pit house types in the Vantage locale during the Cayuse Phase, and (6) comments on Swanson's identification and interpretation of the Cayuse Phase and its various subphases. [38]

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