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 218.
Flaked stone tools
Flaked stone tools are produced by flintknapping, a process of breaking the stone to produce a cutting edge. Tools made by flintknapping included points (both spearpoints and later arrowpoints), knives, scrapers, and other cutting implements.
The process of breaking stone to form tools is not a random process: it is not simply a matter of banging two stones together. The toolmaker will take a piece of stone and shape it into a culturally acceptable form. Thus, in a culture the same basic tool shapes appear over and over again.
In his book Flintknapping: Making and Understanding Stone Tools, John Whittaker writes:
“The pressure-flaked ‘arrowhead’ is the most characteristic American stone artifact. Even people who know nothing about prehistory recognize ‘arrowheads.’”
To be technically precise these “arrowheads” are small, bifacially flaked projectile points, some of which were used on arrows.
It should also be noted that stone projectile points often break and are re-fashioned. This means that small arrowheads may have started out as larger arrowheads or as spearpoints.
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.
Stone 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.
Unidentified
More Ancient America
Ancient America: Stone bowls from the Long Narrows of the Columbia River (museum exhibit)
Ancient America: The prehistoric Southwest, 1375-1425 CE
Ancient America: A very brief overview of stone quarries
Ancient America: Columbia River Pictographs (Photo Diary)
Ancient America: A very brief overview of the Hopewell moundbuilders
Ancient America: Texas Prior to 5000 BCE
Ancient America: The Old Copper People
Ancient America: The atlatl and the bow (museum exhibit)