A series of fifty burials, of which the illustration is an example, uncovered at a site in the McNary reservoir, has provided excellent material for a study of physical types in the area. Previously few skeletal remains were available from that district. The mortuary offerings in this particular case consisted of a stone pestle placed by the face and a well-chipped blade at the back of the head. Excavations along the Columbia river reveal some interesting deposits. In the section of a trench shown here, a thick layer of clam shells cuts across the wall about midway between top and bottom. The artifacts from this midden layer indicate a fairly simple culture with an economy based mainly on fishing and food gathering. Below this layer is fine white volcanic ash, probably from Mt. Adams in south central Washington, which at one time must have covered the entire countryside. It is probably several thousand years old. The midden layer rests more or less comfortably on the ash and may have been deposited there not long after the eruption which produced the ash. The material above the shell stratum is blow-sand which has collected since the occupation by the Indians who were responsible for the shell debris. 34 ARCHAEOLOGY