A Decorated Mortar in Columbia Valley Art Style

Abstract

AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. S., 44, 1942 A DECORATED MORTAR IN COLUMBIA VALLEY ART STYLE The stone mortar discussed here was called to my attention by William S. Laugh­ lin of the Department of Anthropology, Willamette University at Salem, Oregon. The specimen (No. ACR, 1219, Willamette University Museum) was collected by a Major McCleary from a burial site at the north end of Miller's Island, at the confluence of the Deschutes and Columbia rivers. This island has abundant archaeological remains, some of which have been discussed by Strong, Schenck, and Steward in their ArchlU­ ology of the Dalles-Deschu.tes Region. l The mortar may be from site 22 or site 19, but this is not certain. The basalt mortar is 7.3 em. high, 11.6 em. in diameter at the top and 8.6 em. in diameter at the base. The walls are 1.6 em. thick at the rim and the cavity is 4.0 em. deep. The bottom and interior are undecorated. The design is incised with firm lines on the outside wall of the mortar, and when the mortar is in normal position (Le., resting on the base), the faces point upward toward the rim, the forefeet grasping the edge. The design is thus inverted, and has been shown in normal perspective in the accompanying drawing. ANALYSIS OF DESIGN PANELS The exterior surface of the mortar is divisible into four separate panels (A-D). The bottom surface and interior are plain. Panel A. An animal's face with the ears on top the head. A square between the ears may represent a headdress or hat, or may simply be a filler for a blank area. Beside each cheek are two hands or feet which look like bear paws. Above the head is a lateral­ section contining two similar feet and two triangles. These may be simply decorative elements, but they may also represent schematicalty the hinder end of the animal, with only the feet pointed laterally and the tail represented by the space between the two triangles. A native artist of the Northwest Coast would probably interpret this whole panel as representing a .complete animal (bear?).2 If the design is a complete animal, the square between the ears may represent the body of the animal. A small inverted face to the right is more difficult to explain; it may be simply a filler between the design of Panels A and B. Panel B. Similar to the figure in Panel A except that the inverted face is omitted. Panel C. Two animal faces at the bottom. The ears are pointed, and are unlike those of the figures in Panels A and B which are in typical Northwest Coast style. 3 Above the head in the central section delimited by parallel lines is the square design common to all four panels, but with three concentric lines at each side. At the top is the now familiar feet and tail (?) design representing the hinder part of the body. At each side of the Pllnel next to the head is a bent foreleg and foot. 1 W. D. Strong, W. E. Schenck, and J. H. Steward, Archaeology of the Dalles-Deschutes Region (University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 29, No.1, 1930). See map of Miller's Island, p. 12. I For an analysis of this conventionalized style see F. Boas, The Decorative Art of the Indians of the North Pacific Coast (Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 9, pp. 123­ 176, 1897), (Also accessible in his Primitive Art, Oslo, 1927, pp. 183-298). 3 Cf. Boas, op. cit.