Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T14:26:06.932Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Origin and Authenticity of an Atlatl and an Atlatl Dart from Lassen County, California

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Franklin Fenenga
Affiliation:
Lillard Museum, Sacramento Junior College, Sacramento, California
Robert F. Heizer
Affiliation:
University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

Extract

In October, 1939, an atlatl and an atlatl dart were brought from Lassen County, California, to the Lillard Museum for examination. These pieces had been found in Susanville in the collection of Mrs. McDow, whose husband had obtained them from an Indian, Charlie Paiute, formerly a resident of the Susanville area.

The atlatl is made apparently of willow; is 75 cm. long; averages 21 mm. in width; is 10 mm. thick at the distal end and increases to 13 mm. at the handle. The wood has been stained with a red pigment (a very similar stain may be obtained by grinding hematite, adding water to it and daubing it on wood). It is black and greasy, apparently from dirty hands, at the handle and along the edges paralleling the groove.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1941

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography for Preceding Three Articles

Bancroft, H. H. 1884. History of California, 1542–1800. Vol. 1. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Bancroft, H. H. 1886. History of California, 1801–1824. Vol. 2. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Barnett, H. G. 1940. “Culture Processes.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 42, pp. 2148.Google Scholar
Bazán, J. C. 1931. “Etnografia Rioplatense y Chaquena.” Revista de la Socieda “Amigos de la Arqueologia.” Vol. 5, pp. 309343. Montevideo.Google Scholar
Beattie, G. W. 1928. “Spanish Plans for an Inland Chain of Missions.” Historical Society of Southern California, Vol. 24, pp. 243264.Google Scholar
Bolton, H. E. 1931a. “In the South San Joaquin ahead of Garces.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 10, pp. 211219.Google Scholar
Bolton, H. E. 1931b. Font's Complete Diary. Anza's California Expedition, 1774–1776, Vol. 4. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Chapman, C. E. 1930. A History of California: the Spanish Period. New York.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. N.D. “The Conflict Between the California Indian and White Civilization; Part I: The Indian Versus the Spanish Mission.” Ibero-Americana. In press.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. N.D. 1939. “Smallpox in Spanish and Mexican California.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. 7, pp. 153191.Google Scholar
Cook, S. F. N.D. 1940. “Population Trends Among the California Mission Indians.” Ibero-Americana, Vol. 17. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Cressman, L. S., and A. D., Krieger 1940. Atlatls and Associated Artifacts from Southcentral Oregon. University of Oregon Monographs, Studies in Anthropology, No. 3.Google Scholar
Dana, J. 1934. Sutter of California. New York.Google Scholar
Delano, A. 1936. Across the Plains and among the Diggings. New York.Google Scholar
Dixon, R. B. 1904. The Northern Maidu. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 17, Pt. 3.Google Scholar
Dobrizhoffer, M. 1822. An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay. Vols. 1-2. London.Google Scholar
Driver, H. E. 1937. Culture Element Distributions: VI. Southern Sierra Nevada. University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 1, pp. 53154.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. 1937. Culture Element Distributions: V. Southern California. University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 1, pp. 152.Google Scholar
Du Bois, C. 1935. Wintu Ethnography. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 36, pp. 1148.Google Scholar
Du Bois, C. 1939. The 1870 Ghost Dance. University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 3, No. 1.Google Scholar
Duhaut-Cilly, A. 1929. “Account of California in the Years 1827-28.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 8, pp. 130166, 214-250, 306-336. Trans, by C. F. Carter.Google Scholar
Engelhardt, Fr. Z. 1912–1913. The Missions and Missionaries of California. Vols. 2-3. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Farquhar, F. P. 1932. “The Topographical Reports of Lieutenant George H. Derby.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 11, pp. 99123, 247-265.Google Scholar
Fenenga, F., and Wheat, J. B. 1940. “An Atlatl from the Baylor Rock Shelter, Culberson County, Texas.” American Antiquity, Vol. 5, No. 3.Google Scholar
Fremont, J. C. 1887. Memoirs of My Life. Vol. 1. Chicago and New York.Google Scholar
Gayton, A. 1929. Yakuts and Western Mono Pottery-Making. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 24, pp. 239255.Google Scholar
Gayton, A. 1936. “Estudillo among the Yokuts: 1819.” In Essays in Anthropology Presented to A. L. Kroeber. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Geary, G. J. 1934. The Secularization of the California Missions. Catholic University Studies in American Church History, Vol. 17.Google Scholar
Gifford, E. W. 1926. “Miwok Lineages and the Political Unit in Aboriginal California.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 28, pp. 389401.Google Scholar
Glfford, E. W., and Kroeber, A. L. 1937. Culture Element Distributions: IV, Porno. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 37.Google Scholar
Glfford, E. W., and Schenck, W. E. 1926. Archaeology of the Southern San Joaquin Valley, California. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 23, pp. 1122.Google Scholar
Gudde, E. G. 1936. Sutter's Own Story. New York.Google Scholar
Guernsey, S. J., and A. V., Kidder 1921. Basket-Maker Caves in Northeastern Arizona. Peabody Museum Papers, Vol. 8, No. 2.Google Scholar
Harrington, J. P. 1928. Exploration of the Burton Mound at Santa Barbara, California. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report, 44.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. a. “Aboriginal Trade Relations Between the Southwest and California.” Masterkey, Southwest Museum. In press.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. b. “The Wallawalla Expedition to California, 1844-1847.” In manuscript.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1937. “Baked-Clay Objects of the Lower Sacramento Valley, California.” American Antiquity, Vol. 3, pp. 3450.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1938a. “A Complete Atlatl Dart from Pershing County, Nevada.” New Mexico Anthropologist, Vol. 2.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1938b. “An Inquiry into the Status of the Santa Barbara Spearthrower.” American Antiquity, Vol. 4, No. 3.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1939. “Some Sacramento Valley-Santa Barbara Archaeological Relationships.” Southwest Museum Masterkey, Vol. 13, pp. 3135. Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1941a. “A Californian Messianic Movement of 1801 among the Chumash.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 43.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F. N.D. 1941b. Review of Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast , by Rogers, D. B.. American Antiquity, Vol. 6, pp. 372375.Google Scholar
Heizer, R. F., and Fenenga, F. 1939. “Archaeological Horizons in Central California.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 41, pp. 378399.Google Scholar
Holmes, W. H. 1899. Review of the Evidence Relating to Auriferous Gravel Man in California. Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution, for 1889. Washington.Google Scholar
Hoopes, A. W. 1932. Indian Affairs and Their Administration with Special Reference to the Far West, 1849–1860. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Jackson, A. T. 1937. “Exploration of Certain Sites in Culberson County, Texas.” Texas Archaeological and Paleontological Society, Bulletin 9.Google Scholar
Jackson, A. T. 1938. The Fall Creek Sites. University of Texas Publications, No. 3802, pp. 11-118.Google Scholar
James, G. W. 1906. In and Out of the Old Missions of California. Boston.Google Scholar
Judd, N. M. 1926. Archaeological Observations North of the Rio Colorado. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 82.Google Scholar
Kersten, L. 1904. Die Indianerstämme des Gran Chaco bis zum Ausgange des 18. Jahrhunderts. International Archiv fur Ethnographie, 17.Google Scholar
Von Kotzebue, O. 1830. A New Voyage Round the World in the Years 1823, 1824, 1825, 1826. Vols. 1-2, London.Google Scholar
Krieger, A. D. 1940. “Chemical Alteration of Archaeological Remains.” Society for American Archaeology, Notebook, June, pp. 126135.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1908. “On the Evidences of Occupation of Certain Regions by the Miwok Indians.” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 6, pp. 369380.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 78.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1928. Native Culture of the Southwest. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 23, No. 9.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1936a. “Culture Element Distributions: III, Area and Climax.” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 37, pp. 101116.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1936b. “Prospects in California Prehistory.” American Antiquity, Vol. 2, pp. 108116.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1938. “Lodi Man.” Science, Vol. 87, pp. 137, 138.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1939a. Culture Element Distributions: XI, Tribes Surveyed. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology.Google Scholar
Kroeber, A. L. 1939b. Cultural and Natural Areas of Native North America. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 38.Google Scholar
Von Langsdorff, G. H. 1813–1814. Voyages and Travels in Various Parts of the World during the Years 1803-1807. Vols. 1-2. London.Google Scholar
Langston, K. N. D. “The Secularization of the California Missions, 1813-1846.” Unpublished . M.A. thesis, University of California Library.Google Scholar
Leader, H. N. D. “The Hudson's Bay Company in California.” Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California Library.Google Scholar
Leonard, Z. 1904. The Narrative of Zenas Leonard: Hunlter, Fur-Trader, Trapper. Cleveland.Google Scholar
Lillard, J. B., and Purves, W. K. 1936. The Archaeology of the Deer Creek-Cosumnes Area, Sacramento County, California. Sacramento Junior College, Dept. of Anthropology, Bulletin 1. Sacramento, California.Google Scholar
Lillard, J. B., Heizer, R. F. and Fenenga, F. 1939. An Introduction to the Archaeology of Central California. Sacramento Junior College, Dept. of Anthropology, Bulletin 2. Sacramento, California.Google Scholar
Loud, L. L., and M. R., Harrington 1929. Lovelock Cave. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 26, No. 1.Google Scholar
Mason, J. A. 1912. The Ethnology of the Salinan Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 10, pp. 97240.Google Scholar
Merriam, C. H. 1907. “Distribution and Classification of the Mewan Stock of California.” American Anthropologist, Vol. 9, pp. 338357.Google Scholar
Olson, R. L. 1930. “Chumash Prehistory.” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 28, pp. 121.Google Scholar
Olson, R. L. 1934. “Recent Archaeological Work on the Pacific Coast.” Proceedings, Fifth Pacific Science Congress, Canada, 1933, Vol. 4, pp. 28412846. Toronto.Google Scholar
Papen, H. N. D. “Spanish Explorations in the Interior of California, 1804-1821.” Unpublished M.A. thesis, University of California Library.Google Scholar
Patterson, J. T. 1937. “Boat-shaped artifacts of the Gulf Southwest States.” University of Texas Bulletin 3732; Anthropological Papers Vol. 1, No. 2.Google Scholar
Rogers, D. B. 1929. Prehistoric Man of the Santa Barbara Coast. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Santa Barbara, California.Google Scholar
Rogers, M. J. 1936. Yuman Pottery Making. San Diego Museum Papers, No. 2.Google Scholar
Sanchez, N. Van De, G. 1922. Spanish and Indian Place Names in California. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Schenck, W. E. 1926. “Historic Aboriginal Groups of the California Delta Region.” University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 23, pp. 123146.Google Scholar
Schenck, W. E., and Dawson, E. J. 1929. Archaeology of the Northern San Joaquin Valley. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 25, pp. 289413.Google Scholar
SirSimpson, G. 1847. Narrative of a Journey Round the World during the Years 1841 and 1842. Vols. 1-2. London.Google Scholar
Steward, J. H. 1940. “Native Cultures of the Intermontaine (Great Basin) Area.” In Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 100.Google Scholar
Stewart, T. D. 1940. “Some Historical Implications of Physical Anthropology in North America.” In Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 100, pp. 1550.Google Scholar
Stirling, M. W. 1935. Smithsonian Archaeological Projects Conducted under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, 1933–34. Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report for 1934.Google Scholar
Stock, C. 1938. “Product of the Tar Seeps of McKittrick.” Carnegie Institution of Washington, News Service Bulletin, Vol. 4, No. 32, pp. 262264.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1935. An Introduction to Nebraska Archaeology. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 93, No. 10.Google Scholar
Strong, W. D. 1940. “From History to Prehistory in the Northern Great Plains.” In Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 100, pp. 353394.Google Scholar
Sutter, J. A. 1939. A Record of Events Kept by John A. Sutter and His Clerks at New Helvetia, California, from September 9, 1845, to May 25, 1848. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Swan, J. G. 1857. Three Years Residence in Washington Territory. New York.Google Scholar
Torchiana, H. A., Van, C. 1933. Story of the Mission Santa Cruz. San Francisco.Google Scholar
Torchiana, H. A., Van, C. 1879. United States Geographical Surveys West of the 100th Meridian. Archaeology. Vol. 7, Engineer Department, United States Army.Google Scholar
Toulouse, Joseph Jr. 1939. “Arrow-shaft tools: With Notes on their general Distribution.” University of New Mexico Bulletin 345, Anthropological Series, Vol. 3.Google Scholar
Walker, E. F. 1935. “A Yokuts Cemetery at Elk Hills.” Southwest Museum Masterkey, Vol. 9, pp. 145150. Los Angeles.Google Scholar
Watson, D. S. 1934. “The 1781 Canizares Map of San Francisco Bay.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 13, p. 182. (See also same series, 1935, Vol. 14, opp. p. 111.)Google Scholar
Wedel, W. R. 1936. An Introduction to Pawnee Archaeology. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 112.Google Scholar
Wedel, W. R. 1938. The Direct-Historical Approach in Pawnee Archaeology. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 97, No. 7.Google Scholar
Wedel, W. R. 1940. “Culture Sequences in the Central Great Plains.” In Essays in Historical Anthropology of North America. Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 100, pp. 291352.Google Scholar
Wedel, W. R. 1941. Archaeological Investigations at Buena Vista Lake, Kern County, California. Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 130.Google Scholar
Wilkes, C. 1845. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. Vol. V. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Winther, O. O. 1935. “The Story of San Jose, 1777-1869, California's First Pueblo.” California Historical Quarterly, Vol. 14, pp. 327.Google Scholar