The area between the Cascade Mountains and the Rocky Mountains in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and Western Montana is known as the Plateau Culture area. The Cashmere Museum in Cashmere, Washington has several exhibits of American Indian artifacts collected in the Columbia River area of central Washington. Shown below are some of the artifacts in exhibit 212.
Mauls
These mauls—basically hand-held hammers—have different sizes and weights and were probably used for different tasks, such as driving wedges in woodworking and striking antler butts in flaking obsidian or chalcedony for stone blades and points.
Clubs
While clubs are often classified as “war” clubs, the Plateau Indians were a fishing people and clubs were used to kill large fish that had been netted or snared.
Shown above is a bone club.
Shown above is a slate club.
This stone club would have been hafted to a wooden handle.
Pestles
Stone pestles were used in food preparation. Nuts and seeds would be ground up to produce flour; berries, fish, and meat would be ground up to produce pemmican.
Pipes
Smoking—more specifically, the use of the pipe—is a cultural pattern that goes back for more than 2,000 years according to the archaeological data. Along the Columbia River, there were two types of stone pipes: an elbow pipe which was associated with the Upper Chinookans and a tubular pipe used by the Columbia Sahaptins. Tobacco (Nicotania attenuata) was cultivated by broadcasting the seeds in a plot which had been burned. When tobacco was not available, the people used kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi) and when tobacco was available it was often mixed with kinnikinnick.
Blades and points
J is an adze blade. The adze is a woodworking tool used for cutting, scraping, planning, or gouging. The stone blade is set in an arched handle at right angles to the handle.
Shown above is an adze blade.
Olivella shell Beads
Olivella shells were obtain in trade from the Pacific coast.
Bone comb tines
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Paleoindian stone tools in Washington's Plateau area
Ancient America: A very brief overview of stone quarries
Ancient America: Astronomy
Ancient America: The Columbia Plateau, 2000 to 500 BCE
Ancient America: Avonlea, the early bow hunters
Ancient America: The Old Copper People
Ancient America: A collection of hunting and gathering artifacts (museum exhibit 21)
Ancient America: The atlatl and the bow (museum exhibit)