Running head: LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU

Lithic Implements of the Nimiipuu Joshua L. Rogers Lewis-Clark State College 6 May 2013

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Abstract The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the lithic implements created

and used by the Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people. Specifically, to explore the varied types of stone implements, their uses, durability, and how these tools played a role in agriculture, hunting, fishing and trade. Describe how such implements were crafted, traded for and evolved over time and what impact the eruption of Mount Mazama may have had on diet, as evidenced by tools. Determine some of the impacts of the arrival of metal tools through European trade. Examine what these things tell us about the Nimiipuu people.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Lithic Implements of the Nimiipuu Prior to the arrival of European trade goods most Pre-Colonial North American cultures never developed the technologies required to fashion metal tools. These cultures either did not obtain metal tools or, after the arrival of European colonists, the tools were acquired through trade. As a result of this, people living in North America relied solely on lithic tools crafted from stones

gathered within their territory or obtained from trading partners. Such cultures are known as stone tool dependent cultures. The Nimiipuu of the Pacific Northwest are one such stone tool dependent culture. While they certainly used other materials, like wood, bark, roots, reeds, sagebrush and grasses to do their work, stone tools formed the foundation of many aspects of daily life. Some of the activities facilitated by stone tools included the harvesting of plants and animals along with the creation of other tools, the processing of hides and in the preparation of dyes, paints, foods and medicines. Archeological excavations of historic sites utilized by the Nimiipuu and their ancestors in Idaho, Oregon and Washington have uncovered a variety of stone tools including, but not limited to, scrapers, awls, drills, weights, spearheads, arrowheads, axes, mallets, hammers, war hammers, knives, stone pipes, mortars, pestles, manos, metates, and wedges. To date, the oldest artifacts recovered show that humans have been living in the Pacific Northwest and making stone tools ever since their arrival sometime around 12,000 years ago (Keyser, 1992, p. 24; Nez Perce museum collections: Legend times, n.d.).

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU This migration was likely facilitated by warming temperatures and retreating glaciers, with the first evidence for aspects of the Nimiipuu culture becoming evident around 6,000 years ago (Keyser, 1992, p. 24).

It is interesting to note that between 8,000 to 6,500 years ago there were several dramatic changes in the use and style of stone tools including a notable proliferation in tools associated with the gathering and processing of plants (Keeler, 1973, pp. 76-77; Keyser, 1992, p. 25). The most significant change in stone tools is in the evolution of projectile points (Fig. 1) from bulky, rounded leaf shapes to thin and angular in form with barbs and side, corner and or basal notches (Butler, 1961, pp. 18-21; Keyser, 1992, p. 25). There is debate as to whether this was due to increasing cultural exchange due to the warming climate of the Holocene Climate Optimum, around 7,000 3,000 BCE, or due to the natural evolution and improvement of lithic technology within the Plateau cultures (Keeler, 1973, pp. 77-78).
Increasing prevalence of side-notched points

Stem

Side Notch

Edge Notch/Barb Basal Notch

8000 BCE 12000 BCE

4800 BCE 4500 BCE

1000 CE 1900 CE

6000 BCE

Fig. 1. Evolution of Projectile Points: Columbia Plateau

Photos adapted from http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/arch/Prehist/C-Hist/C-Hist.htm * Timeline shows approximate time period of a particular styles prevalence in the entire Pacific Northwest. Some areas show thousands of years of overlapping use between styles while other areas show older styles rapidly discarded in favor of the new.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Impact of Mazama Eruption on Tools and Diet

The previously noted upsurge in plant processing tools such as mortars, pestles, manos and metates and the corresponding increase in reliance on plants as a food source may be linked to the catastrophic eruption of Mount Mazama between September and November, sometime around 5700 BCE; the explosive force of which was of such magnitude that it formed present day Crater Lake in south eastern Oregon (Keyser, 1992, p. 26; Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 291). Significant volumes of ash were deposited (Figs. 2 & 3), ranging from 300 feet deep near the caldera and up to a foot in Idaho and Washington (Klimasauskas, Bacon & Alexander, 2002). The eruption and subsequent ash fall devastated the Pacific Northwest. Areas as far south as California and Nevada and as far north as Alberta, Canada were covered in several inches of ash.
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 20 1
Mt. Mazama, Oregon (5700 BCE) Krakatoa, Indonesia (1883 CE) Mt. St Helens, Washington (1980 CE)

116

Tephra Errupted (km^3)

Fig. 2. Mazama Ash 5,700 BCE

The Smithsonian Institute. (n.d.), [Diagram]. Retrieved 25 April, 2013, from National Museum of Natural History: The Dynamic Earth http://www.mnh.si.edu/earth/text/images/4_0 _0_0/4415_mazama-1.jpg

Fig. 3. Comparative Tephra Volumes

* Based on USGS estimates. ** Tephra includes all solid material ejected during an eruption (ash, lapilli, blocks and bombs).

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Many deposits of Mazama ash are still visible just beneath the topsoil in various locations around the Pacific Northwest, providing archeologists and geologists with a well-defined and widespread chronographic marker. Unfortunately, few studies have been written about the impact of the

Mazama eruption on the regional ecology, much less the cultures of the Pacific Northwest. Such a lack of research, besides a noted shift toward plant harvesting and fishing around the same time as the eruption, makes it difficult to do anything more than hypothesize about the effects of Mazama based on the observations of similar, modern eruptions. To further impress the significance and scale, in 1980, Mount Saint Helens released a total of 24 Mt of energy; in 1883, Krakatoa released 200 Mt; and in 5700 BCE, Mount Mazama released 10,000 Mt of energy, roughly equivalent to the detonation of 100,000 (one hundred-thousand) 100 kt nuclear bombs over the span of several days (Tupper, 2003, p. 2)! Contemporary observations of volcanic eruptions such as Mount Saint Helens, Washington in 1980 and Krakatoa, Indonesia in 1883, being similar types of volcanoes with explosive eruptions similar to Mazama, provide good baselines from which to extrapolate what the Nimiipuu and others in the region would likely have experienced in 5700 BCE. The immediate impact on the Nimiipuu would have come from the ash falling within their homeland; up to a foot deep as far north as present day Lewiston, Idaho. The sky would have been completely obscured by thick, black clouds of ash, which had been blasted into the atmosphere to an estimated

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height of thirty miles, plunging the Pacific Northwest into total darkness for up to a month (Klimasauskas et al., 2002; Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 291; Tupper, 2003, p. 4). Because volcanic ash is highly reflective, the fall and winter temperatures below the ash cloud would have been bitterly cold as the thick clouds blocked most solar radiation (Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 293). After several days, as the ash from Mazama settled over the landscape, it would have seemed, if it had been possible to see in the pitch black, that a knee-deep, powdery, grayish snow had fallen from horizon to horizon. After the ash had finally settled, the whitish surface it created would have acted like a mirror, reflecting sunlight and thus, since little heat was absorbed into the ground, nightly temperatures would have been colder than usual (Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 293). Based on the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, the global climate may have experienced significant cooling and higher levels of precipitation after the Mazama eruption (Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 293; "Volcanic winter," 2013). While Krakatoa ejected about 20 cubic kilometers of tephra into the atmosphere, lowering the average global temperature by around 5 degrees for a period of 4 years, Mazama ejected significantly more, around 116 cubic kilometers, and would have had a much greater impact on the global climate (1983 eruption of Krakatau, 2004; Mazama Ash, 2007; Volcanic winter, 2013). Besides the ash accumulation, acid rain would have been a short term problem as sulfur dioxide from the eruption mixed with moisture in the

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU atmosphere and rained down as droplets of sulfuric acid, killing much of the vegetation that was not already smothered by the ash (Tupper, 2003, p. 6). As a combination of ash and acid rain killed off most plants, the resulting lack of vegetation for grazing, along with ash inhalation, would have

led to the starvation and or migration of most large game animals, which up to this point had been the primary food source of the Nimiipuu and the other peoples of the Pacific Northwest (Keeler, 1973, pp. 77-78; Keyser, 1992, p. 26; Tupper, 2003, p. 6). It is likely that the only remaining significant source of food for the Nimiipuu in the spring and summer months following the Mazama eruption were fish from the rivers and what plants that managed to push up through the compacted ash (Oetelaar & Beaudoin, 2005, p. 298). Similarly, any plant life that survived the ash and acid rain would have thrived in the coming decade on the mineral nutrients added to the soil by the ash. Interestingly, this same time period presents the first evidence that camas was used as a food source (Keyser, 1992, p. 26). These two factors are likely reasons for the increase in artifacts associated with plant processing and fishing, along with the corresponding decrease in artifacts related to hunting game animals from sites excavated in the stratigraphic layers following the Mazama eruption. The devastating effect Mazama had on the human population are seen in how previously populated portions of Oregon appear to have been abandoned, or saw only sparse use by passing individuals, for up to 4000 years after the disaster (Greene, 1998, p. 86).

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Advantages of Stone Tools

The majority of stone tools excavated from sites within the bounds of the traditional Nimiipuu homeland show signs of significant reuse before being either lost or discarded (Sappington & Carley, 1987, p. 56). This evidence demonstrates several advantages and disadvantages of stone tools versus metal tools. The first advantage that stone tools hold over metal tools is that as a stone tool is worn down or becomes broken it can be quickly repaired using the same method as was used to craft it, or it can be flaked apart and the fragments used to make other smaller tools. The second advantage is that while most metal tools require significant training and infrastructure to craft, most stone tools can be crafted quickly, with relative ease and from materials found near at hand. However, it should not be overlooked that many stone tools have been found which exhibit a quality of craftsmanship that only skilled hands and long hours practice could have produced. Ultimately, a stone tool can be used for many years in various forms. For example, a broken axe, hammer or club could be made into several knives, then in turn, as these knives wear out or break, they could be repurposed into scrapers, and these scrapers into arrows and so on, with each repurposing the tools get smaller until being discarded once no longer useful.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Similarities between Plateau Cultures

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It is interesting to note that while the individual tribes of the Columbian Plateau are certainly culturally diverse, they share more in common with each other than they do with the tribes of the surrounding regions (Keyser, 1992, p. 28). In particular, the stone tools made by the people of the Columbian Plateau share many similarities in manufacture and purpose (Keyser, 1992, p. 28). However, in light of similar languages, long distance trade networks and high volume trading hubs, such as those shared by the Nimiipuu at the Dalles and Kettle Falls, these similarities are without a doubt the result of over 6 millennia of exchanging goods and knowledge at these sites and over regional trade routes (Keyser, 1992, p. 25; Peers, 1996, p. 1). In fact, the Nimiipuu were such successful traders that, by the time the Corps of Discovery met them in 1805, the Nimiipuu language was the dominant trade language in the Plateau region. How Stone Tools were Made The methods used by the Nimiipuu to craft stone tools were the same as in many other Mesolithic cultures throughout the Americas and around the world. Examination of archeological sites and the associated lithic artifacts show that the Nimiipuu utilized both pressure and percussion flaking in the manufacture of stone tools (Butler, 1961, p. 38; Sappington & Carley, 1987, p. 79). Pressure flaking is the use of another stone or a piece of bone or antler to apply pressure to the edge of a flake, a fragment taken from a core, in such a

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU way that conchoidal fracture occurs, causing a small fragment of the flake to pop off (Fig. 4). Repeating this process many times using different pressures and angles a flake is shaped into the desired tool. Percussion flaking is the use of a heavy blunt tool, most likely another stone or a large bone, to batter a stone into the desired shape (Fig. 5).

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Percussion flaking is less accurate and would typically be used to craft heavier tools such as axes, clubs or some of the larger scrapers.

Fig. 4. Pressure Flaking

Fig. 5. Percussion Flaking

Anderson, T. (n.d.), [Diagram]. Retrieved 22 April, 2013, from The Flintknapper.com http://theflintknapper.com/files/pres2.jpg

Anderson, T. (n.d.), [Diagram]. Retrieved 22 April, 2013, from The Flintknapper.com http://theflintknapper.com/files/perc3.jpg

Recovered cores, pre-forms and tools show evidence that the Nimiipuu also knew how to make tools less likely to break and easier to craft by first heat treating siliceous stones such as chert, quartzite or obsidian in fires or hot coals (Keeler, 1973, p. 61; Sappington & Carley, 1987, p. 59). Heat treatment works by baking out any water in the stones and allowing the remaining silicon and oxygen to bond thereby changing the chemistry of a silica rich stone and in doing so, making it easier to fracture and capable of holding a sharper edge (Cowan, 1987, pp. 2-3).

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Stone tools would often be made by the person who intended to use

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them. Traditionally men would manufacture hunting equipment like projectile points and knives while women would manufacture processing equipment like scrapers, grinders, mortars, pestles, manos and metates (Sappington & Carley, 1987, p. 70). Due to the difficulty of transporting heavy stones and large tools when on foot, many weighty tools, such as granite hammers or grinding stones, were crafted from local materials, river cobbles for instance, used and then discarded or cached, while lighter tools such as knives and projectile points could be carried by an individual in a parfleche bag, or some other pouch (Keeler, 1973, p. 49). Materials Used to Craft Stone Tools The Nimiipuu have used many types of stones when crafting their tools. It is unsurprising, due to the abundance of basalt found in the Columbia Plateau that the vast majority of early, pre 8,000 BCE, stone tools, recovered from excavations within the traditional Nimiipuu homeland are made of basalt (Butler, 1961, p. 38). Sometime after 6,000 BCE, as trade and population increased in the Plateau region, other materials became dominant (Nelson, 1966, p. 7). The use of local material played a factor in early tool making but there is evidence of trade for raw materials. For example, at some sites nearly 70% of debtage, the waste material from lithic manufacture, is composed of quartzite

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and other cryptocrystalline stones such as chert and obsidian (Miss, Campbell, Livingston, Sammons-Lohse, & Steinholm, 1984, pp. 55-56). Trade and Mineral Localities It should be noted that materials such as chert and obsidian, while present, are fairly scarce in the Columbia Plateau region, appearing almost exclusively as stray river cobbles, and were more likely to have been traded for through extended trade networks with tribes as far north as Alaska and British Columbia, and from Mexico in the south to as far east as the Mandan living near the Mississippi River (Keyser, 1992, pp. 31-32; Nez Perce museum collections: Transport and trade, n.d.; Peers, 1996, p. 1). Analysis of tools excavated near The Dalles shows that the most probable source of obsidian is south-central Oregon as well as the region of Oregon near Wallowa (Keyser, 1992, pp. 27; Obsidian, n.d.). Chert, of which no significant sources exist west of the Rocky Mountains, was most likely traded for from tribes living on the Great Plains (Chert, n.d.; Keyser, 1992, pp. 31-32). Other materials which the Nimiipuu utilized include basalt, quartz crystal, argillite, granite, catalinite, steatite, nephrite, and various other siliceous stones with cryptocrystalline form: chert, chalcedony, jasper, agate, and common opal, for example (Keyser, 1992, p. 27; Miss et al., 1984, pp. 56-65). Impact of European Trade on Tool Use The arrival of trappers, trading posts, settlers and even sailors on the Pacific coast led to the Plateau tribes, including the Nimiipuu, acquiring metal tools such as: guns, axes, hatches, knives, farming implements, woodworking

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU tools and cookware (Peers, 1996). By the mid-19th century, European trade goods had had begun to proliferate through the Plateau region. While these new tools replaced many of the traditional stone tools, the Nimiipuu would have continued to use stone tools for some time as they did not yet possess the facilities to manufacture them. The Nimiipuu were promised, though never received, a blacksmith workshop, a tinsmith workshop, a gunsmith workshop and instruction in each trade, according to the Nez Perce Treaty of 1855. Ultimately, individual Nimiipuu would have continued to make stone

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tools for which they were unable to acquire metal counterparts, either due to a lack of supply or prohibitive cost. What This Tells Us about the Nimiipuu While the tools of everyday life may seem inconsequential at first glance, studying what stone tools the Nimiipuu and their ancestors have used and how they refined their manufacture and use to meet changing circumstances and improvements in technology can tell a lot about their culture. Researching the tools used by the Nimiipuu and the other Plateau cultures leads to the conclusion that the Nimiipuu have been skilled diplomats and traders for many millennia. In addition to being skilled traders and organizers, the Nimiipuu are shown to promote self-reliance. Demonstrated in the research is also how men and women of the Nimiipuu were skilled at crafting their own tools for the specific tasks they needed to complete.

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The Nimiipuu have also demonstrated a will to survive and prosper. This is seen in how they adapted to changes in their environment, from catastrophic natural disasters and sudden shifts in food sources to the gradual refinement of lithic technology through trade, necessity, ingenuity and a drive to learn new ways of doing things.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU References 1983 eruption of Krakatau. (2004). Retrieved from website:

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http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Indonesia/description_krakatau_1 883_eruption.html Butler, B. R. (1961). The old Cordilleran culture in the Pacific Northwest. Pocatello, ID: Idaho State College Museum. Chert. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mindat.org/min-994.html Cowen, F. L. (1987). Heat-treating experiments with Onondaga chert: Preliminary results. Informally published manuscript, Anthropology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, Retrieved from http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/Lithics/Files/thermal.pdf Mazama ash. (2007). Retrieved from website: http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/CraterLake/MazamaAsh/ description_mazama_ash.html Greene, R. A. (1998). Mount Mazama and Crater Lake: A study of the botanical and human responses to a geologic event. Retrieved from http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/8409/ Green_Robyn_A_1998.pdf Keeler, R. W. (1973). An upland hunting camp on the north fork of the Clearwater River North-central Idaho. Pocatello, ID: Idaho State University Museum. Keyser, J. D. (1992). Indian rock art of the Columbia Plateau. (1st ed.). Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Klimasauskas, E., Bacon, C., & Alexander, J. (2002). Mount Mazama and

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Crater Lake: Growth and destruction of a cascade volcano. Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs092-02/ Miss, C. J., Campbell, S. K., Livingston, S., Sammons-Lohse, D., & Steinholm, N. A. (1984). Archeological investigations at sites 45-OK-287 and 45-OK-288, Chief Joseph Dam project, Washington. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Nelson, C. M. (1966). A preliminary report on 45COL, a stratified open site on the southern Columbia Plateau. Pullman, WA: Washington State University. Obsidian. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.mindat.org/min-8519.html Oetelaar, G. A., & Beaudoin, A. B. (2005). Darkened skies and sparkling grasses: The potential impact of the Mazama ash fall on the northwestern plains. Plains Anthropologist, 50(195), 285-305. Peers, L. (n.d.). Trade & change: On the Columbia Plateau, 17501840. (1996). Columbia Magazine, 10(4), 6-12. Retrieved from http://columbia.washingtonhistory.org/anthology/ earliestsettlers/tradeAndChange.aspx Sappington, R. L., & Carley, C. D. (1987). Archeological investigations at the Kooskia bridge site (10-IH-1395), middle fork, Clearwater River, north central Idaho. Moscow, ID: University of Idaho.

LITHIC IMPLEMENTS OF THE NIMIIPUU Tupper, M. (2003). High desert roses: Significant stories from Central Oregon. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. (n.d.). Nez Perce museum collections: Transport and trade. Retrieved from

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website: http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/nepe/transport _trade.html U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. (n.d.). Nez Perce museum collections: Legend times. Retrieved from website: http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/nepe/legend_times.html Volcanic winter. (2013). Retrieved from website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter