again at a comparatively recent day. Mention of this deposit has been made

by Dr. Stephen Bowers, and he concurs with us in opinion as to its great age.

The neighborhood still affords a rich field for the archaeologist, and patient
investigation may yet give us many interesting facts connected with the daily
life, customs and religion of the race that occupied these shores and enjoyed
the delicious climate and charmingn scenery that has fallen such a pleasant
heritage to us.

82.  OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THE RUINS OF THE VILLAGES

OF THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE

PACIFIC COAST OF NORTHI AMtERICA

Paul Schumacher

ABSTRACT

This article is reprinted in translation from the

Mittheilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft in
Wien, Vol. 7, pp. 287-93, Vienna, 1876.   It was sub-
mitted by the author from San Francisco, California,

during the same year as its publication.   Schumacher's
observations mostly concern the characteristics

(formation, composition, use as burial places) of the
shell heaps of the Santa Barbara coastal region, al-

though examples of sites from Oregon are also included.

*    4%   *    *    b     'J   4

The hills of muLssel shells along this coast mark the ruins of villages
of the original inhabitants. An exception to this is found only where the
collections of mussels are in places where edible mussels were found in

abundance and thus were visited from time to time. The mussels were freed
from their shells at these temporary campsites to make their transportation
to the permanent home easier.  Thus these mounds of shells were built up

through the centuries by means of countless meals consumed at these places.
We do not find signs of the existence of huts at these temporary campsites.
There are no pieces of flint and nothing which points to the manufacture of

weapons and utensils. We find only cobbles in small piles which, with ashes
and charcoal, give clear evidence that these used to be fireplaces. It is
remarkable that the shells found at the temporary campsites are only of

- 19 -

those species which are now found in the vicinity. We see, for example., on
the dunes running for twelve miles between Point San Luis and Point Sal sev-

eral temporary campsites which consist almost exclusively of shells of Lucina
sp. with a small number of Venus mercenaria and other edible types mixed in.

Aside from this one finds only a limited number of bones of small land animals
and fishes, while on Point Sal, where there are the remains of a permanent

village, we find not only all of the species. which live on the rocks in the

nearby sea (these are predominantly Mytilus californicus) but also those which
occur on the sandbar near the temporary campsites. Here are found many bones

of different land and sea animals, It is difficult to say if these areas were

considered neutral territory or if the shells came to be used among the coastal
inhabitants as trade materials for inland products. It is certain however that
the inland people were supplied with them, as we ascertained by the remains of
these shells high up the course of the Santa Maria River,

The view that these mounds of shells were made for burial of the natives,
especially for the burial feast, is false, The fact has been shown without

doubt that the mussel heaps mark the location of old villages and accumulated
for centuries as the kitchen refuse of the natives, Graves were dug in these

mounds only when the surrounding ground was rocky and could not be worked with
the primitive tools of the natives. We find not only the whole mass of the

kitchen midden mixed with fragments of utensils, tools, and weapons, but also,
as clear proof of a permanent village, circular depressions which show the

locations of the huts. The depressions are usually surrounded by a circular
raised rim, Further proof of this are the workplaces where arrowpoints and
knives were made, These can be recognized by chips of chalcedony, jasper,

flint, quartz, obsidian, and similar stones, and by the numerous broken and
half-finished points and broken, handsized pieces of the aforementioned min-
erals which are not found naturally in this form on the islands or along the

coast,  Final proof are the tools themselves, such as, for instance, the round
stones on which the flakes,were made into the raw form of weapons and drills

by means of a stone hammer of harder material. This was done before the bone
needle was employed to finish the job,1

The first impression the observer gets when he looks at.the traces of a
native village, especially if the signs are on grassy and solid ground, is

that of a group of enlarged molehills which have sunken in except for a nar-
row rim (Fig, 5k)e An excavation of such a depression shows the underground
part of the hut. This part reaches 4 feet below the surface, The floor can
be recognized by a hard layer, In the middle of the floor we find the fire-

1. See End Notes, [End Notes are converted from the Footnotes appearing in
the original article, Ed.]

- 20 -

place, together with ashes and charcoal. Sometimes the sides of the hut can

be recognized by horizontally-lying split boards and vertical posts. Although
the structure is square in most cases (about 10 feet on a side), we do find
that the depressions we see today, which are seldom  more than 2 or 3 feet

deep, are often very steep and have become circular.  This is probably due to
the rim of earth and the natural reaction of the soil when a hole is filled

with loose earth.  As an exception we find some huts in Oregon which were sur-
rounded by a square elevation, but these date without doubt from the time of

white influx and thus are only modifications of the hut of an Indian and that
of a trapper. They are like those of the present Klamath Indians. As proof

of this we found wood worked with an ax, while the wood in other [older] huts
is charred and split at the ends,, The "foundatLon" of the hut remains quite

similar along the whole coast and only varies in a few places where the circu-
lar shape occurs., The furnishings vary somewhat,  We opened, for instance,
several huts of the main village ruins of the Tu-to-tu-ni [Tututni] on the
right bank of the Rogue River, about five miles from the estuary, and found
the fireplace on the side with a chimney leading underneath the rim to the
surface (Fig. 51). At Chetl-e-shin, at the mouth of the Pistcl River, also
in Oregon, we found the fireplace also on the slde but there was no chimney.

In other places in Oregon the fireplace was in the mLddle of the hut, similar
to those in which we excavated along the California coast south of San
Francisco,,-

The superstructure of the but was fitted without doubt to the earth-wall,
was circular, and ended like a cone at the top. On San NiLcolas Island we

found2 (during our excavations made last year for the Smithsonian Institution
of Washington) that the sides of the hut consisted of the huge ribs of a

whale,  The natural bend of the ribs was faced in such a way that the super-
structure became a hemlsphere and looked like- a beehive.-  We noticed that

whale bones were substituted for wood only on the Islands,  These signs point
to the fact that much of the life of the natives was spent out-of-doors. We

find all workplaces for the manufacture of arrow tips, beads, fishhooks, mor-
tars, etc,, between the huts,, The making of weapons,S drlls, knives, and

other objects occurred at all permanent villages. The raw materials (e.g.,
flint) had to be imported, The same can be said about mcrtars and pestles

which are made out of sandstone or basalt,  Not only does the materlal used
in the manufacture of these objects vary with the locality, but we also

notice different degrees of proficiency in the working of the objects,   This
is not obvious in the manufacture of flint points if they are made of good

material,  In one place the productions [e;g.  of stone mortars] are of mas-
terful workmanship, beautiful in shape, and sometimes have seashells as

otnaments,  Some even have well=-executed raised sculpturing.  In other places
where the worker was not as skilled, the mortars are thick, have shallow de-
pressions, and do not look attractive, Shell beads and ornaments were pro-

- 21

duced in great numbers on the islands and served as trade material for the
Indians. The beautiful cooking pot made from magnesian mica,3 which is
usually pearshaped and made with great artistry, seemed to have been an

important trade object. The material has not been found to occur on this
[mainland] coast, although some signs point to the fact that it may occur

in southern California.  This pot, cut out of a solid piece, must have been
received as the finished product because, first of all, it is so large that
the raw material must have weighed several hundred pounds, and second, the
shape and finish of all such vessels are so similar that one involuntarily
believes that they came from the same manufactory. It is hoped that the

quarry of the natives will be discovered and if a Sheffield [i.e., a work-
shop] existed near it the place will be of great interest to us as far as
the manufacturing activities of the earlier people of this coast are con-
cerned.

It is easy to guess that because the tools for working the soil were

made out of stone, the stony ground made the establishment of a village dif-

ficult and it was necessary to place a layer of sand upon the hard substratum.
Thus, if a location was favorable for a village but did not have soil which
could be worked easily, a layer was placed according to the size of the vil-
lage. The huts were built on this layer, and camp trash and kitchen refuse
began to collect. These accumulations have become present-day shell heaps .4
In the villages formed in this way we find that the graves were always inside
the artificial sandbank of the village, i.e., inside of the shell heaps0 But
if the ground is naturally sandy or otherwise easily workable we must look
for the graves outside of the village circle. The graves of southern Cali-

fornia consist of a community pit which is about 5 feet deep. The skeletons

are separated by slabs of limestone which have been split like boards, Lime-
stone occurs frequently along the coast, The skeletons may also be separated
by whale bones which form narrow niches, and in this case they lie on their

backs with the knees drawn up. This position is often disturbed when the pit
is opened. To get an idea of the small size of the niche which was assigned
to a deceased native, it should be mentioned that one pit of 660 square feet
contained four hundred skeletons. In Oregon the burned hut of the former
owner was used as the grave, or burial was in individual graves.

End Notes

1.   Similar to the present Klamath Indians.   Smithsonian Report, 1873; Archiv

f?ur Anthr. VII:263-65 [articles by P. Schumacher].

2.   San Nicolas, like San Miguel and San Clemente, is a desert where nothing

grows except sparse grass and other small plants along the coast, The

- 22 -

substratum is sandstone and sand,, Thus driftwood is the only wood

found, Water, although scarce, is found on all of the green islands0
Santa Rosa is grassy but there are no trees.  Santa Cruz has willows
and dwarf oaks in some places and there is a small fir forest near
the landing.  This is probably the southernmost point on the coast

where conifers occur naturally.  Santa Catalina, next to Santa Cruz,
is the prettiest island in the channel. It is also richly wooded

but only with willow and dwarf oak.  Of the eight islands--Anacapa
and- Santa Barbara are rocky islands without water--Santa Cruz alone
has a creek,, On the other islands the water is found in springs0
The climate is paradise-like, especially on Santa Catalina, The

islands are not now inhabited and are used only for animal husbandry.
3.  The author used the English term tnagnesian mica [German, Magnesia-

glimmer] without having chemical proof of the identification.

4.  An exact, illustrated description of the structure of the village

is in the hands of the editor in m'anuscript form.

83. THE MANUFACTURE OF SHELL FISH-HOOKS BY THE EARLY INHABITANTS

OF THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL ISLANDS

Paul Schumacher

ABSTRACT

Shell and bone fishhook.s, in addition to implements probably used

in their manufactu-re, have been found irn sites on the Santa Barbara
Channel Islands, off the south coast of California, The reconstruc-
tion of the varliu.s st-ages of manufacture of these Calilfornian fish-
hooks was published for the first time in Archiv fur Anthrpsologie,

Vol,, 8, pp. 223-224, 1875G  The article is here reprinted, in trans-
lation; in its entliretyv

*t   ;,  A^    *v   *     A'   *

During my last trip, in the first half of this year [1875], I undertook,
in the interest, of the Smithsonian Institution and at the inducement of Prof.
Spencer F, Bailr;d, the gulding light of. the organization, to investigate the

- 23 -