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   Comments. Stone pestles have been reported for nearly every Plateau group, notable exceptions being Aft ChUcotin and Lower Carrier (Ray 1942). They have been grouped with the percussion Implements in this report because all are battered around their striking platforms and none display any actually ground facets. [192/193]

   The undesignated specimen derives from material disputed between Subcomponents VIIF and VIIB.

Hammerstones. Excluding pestles, only 23 cobbles were recovered which exhibited signs of pecking, pounding, or battering. These have been divided into three styles and one form, according to utilization patterns and general form.

Style 1 (Fig. 67, d-f)

   Number of Specimens. 11

   Material. Basaltic and andesitic materials.

   Measurements and description. These specimens were manufactured from naturally occurring river cobbles of varying sizes and shapes. As a rule one or both of the narrower ends of the cobble are faceted with pecked surfaces which appear to be the product of utilization. However, in one case (Fig. 67, d), a pecked facet runs along the edge of the cobble. Another of these hammerstones has been further modified by pecking shallow, circular pits at various points on its surface. The function of these is not known. Two of the other specimens, one each from Cultural Components VI and VII, were heavily battered.

   Technique of manufacture. These specimens are solely the products of utilization. [193/194]

   Comments. None.

Style 2 (Fig. 68, d-e)

   Number of Specimens. 4

   Material. Basaltic and andesitic rocks.

   Measurements and description. These specimens, which may best be described as pecking stones, were manufactured from the ends of long, narrow cobbles, which were utilized without any preparation. Utilization scars are confined to a small pecked facet at the terminus of the cobble fragment. One of the specimens, measuring 8.0 x 4.S x 3.2 cm., is oval in cross section. The others are subtriangular in cross section. They measure 6.2 x 3.3 x 2.1 cm., 6.2 x 5.5 x 3.2 cm., and 4.85 x 4.2 x 3.0 cm.

   Technique of manufacture. The end of a long, narrow cobble is separated by means of percussion. It is then ready for use, probably as a pecking stone in the manufacture of rather delicate pecked and ground stone objects, or as an implement of finely controlled percussion flaking.

   Comments. Although virtually unreported in site reports, I have seen many comparable specimens in collections from sites along both the Snake and Columbia rivers.

   These four specimens derive from deposits spanning all of Cultural Component VII.

Style 3 Peripherally Battered Hammerstones (Fig. 68. a-c)

   Number of Specimens. 7

   Material. Basaltic and andesitic rocks.

   Measurements and description. These specimens were manufactured from cylindrical and oval cobbles, the ends of which were first broken away. The flat surface formed by this fracture served as the striking platform. The unusual and diagnostic feature of each of these specimens is the fact that this platform has been utilized only around its periphery. Since utilization was extensive in all but one case, it is probable that the striking platform itself was never intended for use. [194/195]

   In two instances (Fig. 68, a) the narrow end of the cobble was also battered.

   These specimens appear to be the products of utilization only.

   Comments. The utilization pattern suggests that these specimens may have been used as percussion implements in the manufacture of chipped stone artifacts.

   The undesignated specimens all postdate Subcomponent V1IC.

Form 1 Grooved Hammerstone (Fig. 69)

   Number of Specimens. 1

   Material. Serpentine.

   Measurements and description. This is a large polished, rectangular cobble of serpentine which has been three-quarter grooved for binding. This groove which is narrow, deep, and V-shaped in cross section, intersects a broad, shallow groove on the fourth surface. The latter was presumably designed to accommodate a handle, the former to bind the hammerstone to the handle. There is a well-battered striking platform at one end of the hammer-stone. This specimen measures 10.6 x 6.6 x 5.6 cm.

   Technique of manufacture. Abrasives were used in polishing and grooving a naturally block-shaped cobble.

   Comments. None.

Crushing Implements. Though most of the implements in this category are characterized by a bifacially flaked periphery, this initially sharp edge was not used to cut or scrape, but rather to batter or crush in a percussive fashion.

Style I (Fig. 70, a-f)

   Number of Specimens. 21

   Material. Basaltic and andesitic rocks. [195/196]

   Measurements and description. These specimens vary from oval to rectangular in outline and possess irregular cross sections, generally shallow in comparison with specimen size. River cobbles and splinters of talus were both used in the manufacture of these specimens, all of which are quite large. Each has been bifacially flaked along one or more edges which, in all cases, have been battered until quite dull.

   Technique of manufacture. These specimens are the products of percussion flaking.

   Comments. None.

Anvil Stone. A single specimen of the category was rcovered from tile sands directly overlying Cultural Component I. It is a roughly rectangular cobble measuring 17.1 x 9.7 x 6.6 cm. which displays a number of pock-marks at one end. Presumably these are the result of percussion blows.

Hopper Mortars. Five hopper mortars were recovered in the excavations and several dozen noted to the washed-out material on the beach. They are characterized by extremely shallow, circular depressions which have been pecked into round, square, or oval river cobbles and boulders. Three of the specimens recovered in the dig were complete. They measured 31.0 x 24.0 x 7.0 cm., 24.8 x 22.2 x 8.7 cm., and 16.0 x 12.0 x 4.4 cm.

   Although stone grinding slabs, occasionally in association with hoppers of various kinds, have been reported for many groups in the northern Plateau (Ray 1942), there is no local ethnographic account of any such contrivance.

Anchor Stone (?). A large, groove-encircled, granite cobble was recovered from the beach in front of the site. It measures 18.4 x 11.5 x 10.2 cm. [196/197]

   As stone anchors have been reported for the Umatilla, Kittittas, Wenatachee, and Kalispel (Ray 1942:158), it is speculated that this specimen is some sort of an anchor stone.

Notched Net Weights. Although many were observed on the beach, only two notched net weights were recovered from the excava¬tions, one coming from VIIL, the other postdating Subcomponent VIIG. They measure 5.7 x 4.5 x 1.6 cm., and 6.9 x 4.8 x 1.5 cm. Each possesses two bifacially flaked notches placed at opposite ends on the long axis of the cobble.

  It is an interesting fact that net weights of this type are not reported ethnographically, even though they are found in large numbers all along the Snake and Columbia rivers. Ray (1942:109) notes, however, that grooved stone net weights are common among Plateau peoples. As such specimens are comparatively rare in the archaeological record, it may be that these references are to notched weights.

   The undesignated specimen postdates component VIIG.

LAST REVISED: 06 NOV 2015