Research Items

Abstract

Archælogy of the San Joaquin Valley, California.—A further study of the archaeology of the San Joaquin Valley, in this case covering the northern section, has been published by the University of California in the Publications relating to American Archæology and Ethnology, Vol. 26, No. 4. The authors, W. E. Schenck and Elmer J. Dawson, have examined a number of mounds in this section as well as specimens obtained by other collectors, especially the late Mr. H. H. Barr. The mounds, the evidence indicates, were not used exclusively for burial, though these occur throughout the strata and in some cases in the substratum. Although some of the human bones were scorched, this was probably due to the burial fire, and cremation was not practised. Artefacts were burned at the grave. Of those associated with the skeletal remains, which were found in large numbers, pipes, pestles, and obsidian blades were sometimes broken or ‘killed’. Shell ornaments and beads were the objects most frequently found. Though pottery was extremely rare, the large number of objects of clay was one of the unique features of the site. Baked clay balls were found in profusion. These were probably a local invention, as they are not known elsewhere. Their use is obscure. Their number is perhaps due to the lack of stone in the area, and they may have been used for some such purpose as fire-stones. The age of the mounds in some instances may be put at 1800 A.D., as is shown by Caucasian objects associated with the finds; but the oldest mound is calculated to be probably not more than fifteen hundred years earlier.