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The Middle Columbia Cremation Complex*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Thomas R. Garth
Thomas R. Garth*
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
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Extract

Cremation pits were discovered in the Yakima and Snake River valleys and on the Columbia at Wahluke and at The Dalles before 1927. Recently one has been described from the John Day region in Oregon by Cressman (1950). The cremation complex which the pits represent appears in the late prehistoric period and was undoubtedly widespread and important in the cultural development of the region. In the Dalles-Arlington area, at least, it lasted into historic times. Recent evidence associates the cremation complex with Sahaptin groups inhabiting the region above The Dalles until late historic times. This new evidence controverts an earlier theory, largely based on ethnological traditions, that the Salish were the early inhabitants of the area. The finding of burials below the cremation level at Sheep Island (i.e., a stratified burial site) has particular bearing on the problem.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , July 1952 , pp. 40 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1952

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Footnotes

*

This report was made possible by the cooperation of the Whitman College Museum and History Department with the writer, who was resident archaeologist for the National Park Service in Walla Walla, Washington. We are deeply indebted for the voluntary assistance of professors and students as well as amateur archaeologists in the vicinity. Appreciation is also tendered the Corps of Army Engineers for assistance on many occasions, and to John Champe and Frank Fenenga at the University of Nebraska and Doctors Gunther and Osborne at the University of Washington for criticism of the manuscript.

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