Bowl

Wishxam and Wasco horn bowls are among the most expressive sculptural objects created in the Plateau region. Their use is not well understood, but based on their comparative rarity and profuse and presumably symbolic decoration, they likely served a ceremonial purpose. The bowls may have figured into the annual cycle of edible roots and the Root Feasts, which marked the beginning of the harvest for the community. On the sides of this bowl and on the raised ridge across the bottom are geometrically structured human faces and skeletal figures integrated with linear bands of zigzag design. The straight brow line, straight-sided nose, straight cheek and small, diamond-shaped eyes and mouth are typical features of human representation throughout the Columbia River region.