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Rh The artifacts from the great central area are far less unique, but still we find here a curious plummet stone, very rarely, if at all, met with in the north and the south. Some slight evidences of intrusion from the southwestern area are noted, particularly in inlay work. While the distribution of the typical artifacts is quite uniform, there is the suggestion of local divergence about the city of Stockton where small mounds have yielded a few unusual objects. Shell mounds are numerous on the coast, particularly around San Francisco Bay. So far as these have been investigated, they show essentially the same culture from top to bottom, though improvements in form and finish are in evidence. Toward the southeast we meet with some intrusive traits from Area 7, as pottery and the metate, almost entirely confined to the Shoshonean-speaking peoples.

In general, the most striking feature of California culture is its unity, both geographically and chronologically. Rather more evidences of antiquity have come to hand for this area than elsewhere, as we shall see later.

9. The Columbia Basin. This area comprises the greater part of the Columbia drainage, and a part of the Frazer Valley. Its archaeology has been investigated in type localities by Harlan I. Smith, who finds a fairly uniform culture throughout, characterized by the prevalence of chipped points and the rarity of those of ground stone; bone and antler, digging-stick handles; bone tubes; arrow-shaft smoothers; hand hammers; pestles; summer lodge circles of stones; and semi-subterranean house pits. Yet over and above this similarity, two centers can be differentiated, one in the heart of British Columbia, the range of the Thompson Indians, and the other along the Columbia between the Willamette and the Snake rivers. The latter seems to be the seat of the most highly developed culture characterized by several unique artifacts, the so-called ape-head stone carvings, weight stones with suspension hoops, carved clubs, etc. Lewis suggests that this exuberance of carving in stone is due to the lack of suitable wood, since further down the river and along the coast, where wood is available, we find carving.