c.  Woodpecker and other colorful bird scalps.

                    d.  Stone blades displayed during dances.

i. Some blades were famous. Many were named.

                           ii. Black obsidian was the most common material, red obsidian was considerably more valuable and white flint was the most valuable of all.

                           iii. The longer blades were more valuable.  At twenty or so inches in length the value more than doubles.

                  e. Deerskins in rare colors, properly prepared.

                          i. Red, black, and grey skins were common.

                          ii. Exceptionally light or dark skins worth more.

                          iii. Albino deer most valuable, has transparent hoofs.

                 f. Slaves were people who offered themselves in the settlement of debts.

                          i. They were not killed like NWC slaves.

E. The arts were widely practiced.

1.  Music and dance.

a.  Deerskin dances required props and costume and varied from village to village.

i. Most famous deerskin dance at Kepel in autumn. Accompanied the building of

 the salmon dam at the upstream edge of the village.  The ten sections of the

 dam were each named; each was built by a team of men.  Each section had an

entrance with a trap door and an enclosure where salmon were netted.

ii.  All material collected and prepared according to stringent process

 requirements over ten day period.  Great fun!!  Upon completion a fortnight

 of dance begins. Theater with an overturned canoe which pokes fun at

 Karok adulter.

iii.  Dancers wore aprons of civet or deerskin,  many dentalia string

 necklaces, forehead bands (eyeshades) of wolf fur, hair picks collaged of

 feathers.  Faces painted with black.

iv.  They carry deerskins on long poles, heads stuffed and features

 decorated with woodpecker scalps.   Some dancers carry obsidian blades.

b.  Jump dances lasted from two to ten days.

i. Required a headband of 50 woodpecker scalps stitched to deerskin.

ii.  Required second deerskin tube headband stuffed and ornamented

with five large woodpecker scalps.

iii.  Tall hairpin of white feather.

iv.  Requires a special basket, slit on one side, used to hold grass

during the dance.

v.  Brush dances for curing children.

2. Clothing, a Wiyot example.

a. Men’s clothing included a breechcloth of buckskin, deer fur aprons, woven

 rabbit skin or deerskin robes in winter, moccasins with instep and heel seams,

 tattoos, and basketry hats.

b. Women’s clothing consisted of front and back aprons of buckskin falling to

 between ankle and knee, fringed, strung with ornaments, in winter a robe of woven

 rabbit skin or deerskin, moccasins with instep and heel seams, tattoos, and a basket

 hat.  Note: No group north of the Wiyot used woven rabbitskin robes.

3. Basketry and other textiles, a Karok example. Note: the Shasta imported

far more baskets from the Karok than they made.

a. Basketry materials included pine root and hazel twigs; maidenhair fern, Bear lily,

 and Woodwardia fern used in overlay decorations.  Primary technique was twinning. 

 Used only 12 of the 19 documented twinning techniques known in the region.  Used

 for food gathering and preparation, storage, traps and weirs, cradles, gambling

 trays, dance accessories.

b.  Cordage and nets made of iris-leaf fibers for use in bow drills, dip nets,

fishing gear.

c.  Feather work applied to headbands, hair pins, shawls, deer effigies.

4. Wood work.

a. Houses made of planks of wood.  Sweat house, too.  Wiyot used bark

slabs instead of wooden planks.

b.  Boxes for storage.

c. Dugout canoes and paddles (Yurok made).

d. Mush-paddles and spoons.

e.  Bows and arrows, rarely spears, harpoons and eel hooks.

f. Headrests and stools.

g. Pipe stems, tool handles.

h. Wooden clappers, flutes, foot drums.

i.  Game pieces.

5. Horn, bone and shell.

a.  Shell fishing-hooks and stone line-weights.

b. Elkhorn dentalia purses.

c. Elkhorn men’s spoons.

d. Women’s mussel shell spoons.

e. Deer-hoof rattles, bone whistles.

f. Bone awls and scrapers.  Elkhorn netting shuttles.

g. Shell dice.  Beaver teeth dice (Karok).

h. Pendant shell ornaments, beads.

i. shell-string currency.

6. Stone objects.

a.  stone mortars and pestles.

b. stone points, knives, hammers, and scrapers.  Ceremonial blades.

c. steatite plates for catching drippings of roasting salmon.

d. steatite pipe bowls.

e. magnesite beads imported from Pomo.

 

 

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