In ancient times, there were three principal methods of disposing of the dead: in graves in domes of volcanic ash, in rock-slide graves, and in cremation circles. In all of these they were covered with stones.[408] Detailed descriptions of the graves explored by us, are given in the appendix. There are also burials covered with pebbles, some of which may be old; and recent graves (p. 20), where the bodies were apparently buried at length with the feet to the east, and both head and foot marked by a stake, the one at the head being the larger. Simple graves in the level ground known to be old were not found. Gibbs saw bodies wrapped in blankets and tied upright to tree trunks at some distance above the ground near the mouth of the Okanogan River.[409]Burials in Domes of Volcanic Ash. In this arid region are stretches of country locally known as 'scab land,' on which are occasionally groups of low dome-shaped knolls from about fifty to one hundred feet in diameter, by three to six feet in height.[410] These knolls consist of fine volcanic ash, and apparently have been left by the wind because held in place by roots of sage brush and other vegetation. This ashy material has been swept from the intervening surface leaving the 'scab land' paved with fragments of basalt imbedded in a hard soil. The prehistoric Indians of this region, have used many of these knolls, each as a site for a single grave (Fig. 2, Plate IX).[411] These graves, which are located in the tops of the knolls, are usually marked by large river pebbles, or, in some cases, by fragments of basalt that appear as a circular pavement projecting slightly above the surface of the soil. None of them are known to be recent. On the other hand, there is no positive evidence of their great antiquity. In these we sometimes find a box or cyst. This box (Plate X) was formed of thin slabs of basaltic rock some placed on edge and large flat slabs covering the cyst so formed. Above this, as was usually the case, above the skeletons in this kind of grave, the space was filled with irregular rocks or pebbles. The rocks and cyst were entirely different from those of the cairns of the coast of Washington and British Columbia.[412] The skeletons were found flexed, on the side. In the graves, artifacts such as dentalium shells were deposited at the time of burial.

The Kalapuya of the Willamette Valley to the southwest, buried their dead in the earth. One writer described the process as follows:—"When the grave was dug they placed slabs on the bottom and sides, and when they had lowered the wrapped body down, placed another over, resting on the side ones, and filled in the earth."[413] The account does not seem to indicate whether these slabs were of wood or stone, but in either case there is a certain similarity to the graves with the stone cyst found near Tampico.

A grave which may be of this type, found about two and one half miles south of Fort Simcoe was reported to me by Mrs. Lynch who furnished the following information about it. It was on a low ridge with the usual cairn of rocks about three feet high covering it. This cairn was made up of two distinct layers of rocks, both lying above the contents of the grave which included the skeleton of an adult man estimated to be at least six feet tall and that of a child about six to eight years of age, according to identifications made by the physician of the United States Indian service stationed at Fort Simcoe. The man's skull which was well preserved though brittle, was found four feet below the ground or approximately seven feet below the top of the cairn and on the eastern side of the grave. The pelvis of the child was completely decayed, and few of the bones were intact except the maxilla which was found in the western part of the grave between the patellÆ of the man. Near them were found four "links" [beads] of a copper necklace. The maxilla was deeply copper-stained. The steatite ornament shown in Fig. 119 was found on the man's manubrium.Rock-slide Graves. The rock-slides on the hill and canon sides as in the region to the north had frequently been used as burial places. The graves are found from top to bottom. Some of them seem very old. Others were proven to be recent by the character of the objects found in them. The skeletons were in or on the ground and the rocks of the slide had been piled or caused to slide over them (Fig. 1, Plate VIII).[414] The skeleton was buried from one to five, six or even ten feet deep. In some cases, the rocks seemed to have sunk as the body decayed, in others they formed a pile as if placed there to mark the grave. Some graves were marked with sticks (Fig. 3, Plate VI). In others, probably always the older graves, sticks were not seen having doubtless decayed. One of the graves found rifled 75 feet above the little flat at the edge of the north side of the Naches River about a mile and a half above its mouth, seemed to lie walled up with rocks like a well and slabs of a broken canoe, part of which had been thrown out surrounded a few of the disturbed bones. The skeletons were always in a flexed position (Fig. 2, Plate VIII) and objects were found to have been placed in some of these graves.

Spinden states that cemeteries are readily located by the heaps of "river-worn or rock-slide boulders" piled over the graves in the Nez Perce country.[415] They are usually on the first bench above the river bottom and are found near the traditional village sites, from which they can be seen. The more common method of disposing of the dead there, was by burial in the ground, especially on stony hillsides, and covering the graves with stones to keep off the wild animals. This seems to have been the prevailing method throughout the whole Columbia region of which this is a part.[416] Rock-slide graves were sometimes made in basaltic cliffs in the Nez Perce region. One of these is known to have been used in recent times from the presence of a Lewis and Clark medal,[417] and graves marked by pieces of upright cedar and covered by large piles of stone are reported by Spinden on the east bank of the Snake River, beside the mouth of the Grande Ronde.[418]

Indian graves filled up with stones are numerous in the vicinity of the several remains (pp. 29, 54 and 82) near Mr. Turner's home, according to Mr. J. S. Cotton. Mr. Turner told him that all the graves that had been excavated contained bones in a greatly decayed condition, which suggested to him that they were very old. These graves, like the other remains of the vicinity previously mentioned, have been in the same condition since about 1874.

The terraces mentioned on p. 13 (Fig. 1, Plate Vii)[419] may have been made to facilitate reaching rock-slide graves in the same slide; while the pits which were found in the slides (Fig. 2, Plate VII)[420] walled up on the outer sides like balconies, with the rocks that apparently came both from the pits and the disturbed slide above them, have been considered as rifled graves or graves from which the burials had been removed (p. 13).

The following quotation may refer to rock-slide pits:[421] "In the eastern part of Marion County, Oregon, there stands an isolated and most strikingly regular and beautiful butte some three hundred feet in height and covering nearly a section of land. It was fringed about its base, at the time of which I write, with fir groves, but its sides and well rounded and spacious top were devoid of timber, except a few old and spreading oaks, and perhaps a half dozen gigantic firs, whose weighty limbs were drooping with age. A meridian section line passes over the middle of this butte, and four sections corner near its top. While running this line and establishing these corners in 1851, I observed many semi-circular walls of stone, each enclosing space enough for a comfortable seat, and as high as one's shoulders when in a sitting posture, upon cross-sticks as high as the knee ... the older white residents said the Indians made them, but for what purpose they could not say. I became a witness to the use, and was particularly impressed with the fitness for what I saw. Indians from the North and South traveling that way generally camped upon the banks of the Abiqua Creek, a rapid stream of pure, cold water, just issued from the mountains upon the plain. The butte was near, and this they ascended and, taking seats within the stone sanctuaries, communed in silence with the Great Spirit. Bowing the head upon the hands and resting them upon the knees for a few moments, then sitting erect and gazing to the west over the enchanting valley interspersed with meadow, grove and stream." The author states that the place is now called Mount Angel, is surmounted by a Roman Catholic cathedral and that the Indians called this butte Tap-a-lam-a-ho, signifying Mount of Communion; and the plain to the west Chek-ta, meaning beautiful or enchanting.

Possibly the burials in the domes of volcanic ash and those in the rock-slides are practically the results of a common motive by the same people in the same time and the differences may be due simply to the difference in the character of the near by topography and the relative convenience of securing the material to cover the graves. This idea is strengthened by information given me by Mr. W. H. Hindshaw who stated that from sixteen to thirty miles above the mouth of the Snake River where it cuts through canons there are rock burial heaps immediately above flood level and burials in the flood sand below, both of which he found to contain human bones and implements. He also stated that graves are found on the bluff overlooking the river. One was curbed with the remains of a cedar canoe. The grave had a bottom of plank and a cover over the body—that of a small child—which was wrapped in a fur, apparently a beaver skin. There were a number of beads and brass buttons and a large fragment of the shell of the Schizothoerus nuttallii which must have come from the coast.Cremation Circles. Rings of stones (Fig. 1, Plate IX)[422] were also seen and on excavation within them cremated human remains were found usually several in each circle. In some cases the ring was irregular and in others assumed the form of a rectangle. None of them are known to be recent. In such places, dentalium shells, flat shell beads, and shell ornaments were usually seen. Mr. Teit says that rings of stones were also put on top of graves in the Thompson River region. Along the Columbia, below the mouth of the Snake River, vaults or burial houses like those found among the Upper Chinook were used.[423] A somewhat similar method was observed even among the Nez Perce.[424] This suggests that the cremation circles here described, may be the caved-in remains of earth-covered burial lodges built somewhat on the plan of the semi-subterranean winter houses.Position of the Body. In all the old graves the skeletons were flexed and usually on the side (Plate VIII, Fig. 2).[425] The graves where the body was buried at length with the feet to the east were doubtless recent and probably placed that way due to the teachings of Christians. In the Nez Perce region to the east, the body was placed in a variety of positions, either flexed or at length[426] and sometimes upon the side. Considering the difference between the costume and objects used by the men and those by the women, in the Nez Perce region to the east,[427] it would seem that the contents of the graves in this near by region may be used to check the determination of the sex of the skeletons.Property with the Dead. Objects are usually found with the remains of the dead in all classes of old burials but some of the graves contained nothing; others very little. There was apparently no radical difference in the character of the material in the graves in volcanic domes and those in the rock-slides; but the more modern rock-slide graves seemed, on the whole, to contain a greater number of objects than the older graves or the graves in domes. On the coast, objects are found with recent burials, but rarely in ancient graves. The cremation circles often contained dentalium shells and bits of shell objects but little else. In the Nez Perce region to the east a considerable amount of property, ornaments and utensils is found buried with the dead.[428]Horse Sacrifices. We discovered no graves containing horse bones or over which a skeleton of a horse was found, although it will be remembered that such were found in the Nez Perce region east of here.[429] There, the killing of horses over the graves of their owners became the usual practice when horses were plentiful. Sometimes a horse was buried over the body.[430] In this region, however, we found no evidences of the horse in connection with the graves other than the presence of an old Spanish bit in one of the more recent burials.Diseases. Out of about seventeen complete skeletons and six skulls secured in this region by our party those of two children (99-4323, 99-4326) and two adults, one of which was apparently a female (99-4336), exhibited anchylosis of some of the vertebrae. The left ankle bones of the other skeleton (99-4327) showed anchylosis with the tibia and one of the ribs was abnormal. The skeleton of a young child (99-4329) with persistent frontal suture, an example of retarded development was also found.[431]

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