NO. lO NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 49 



to be in error.*" The typical earth lodges of this culture have since 

 been found to be characteristically subrectangular or square, although 

 a very few round houses of this culture have been opened. (Sterns, 

 1915 a, II, p. 204.) In 1926 Gilder published a little brochure entitled 

 " The Nebraska Culture Man ", in which he briefly summed up and 

 illustrated the characteristics of this prehistoric rectangular earth 

 lodge culture of the IMissouri River bluffs in eastern Nebraska. The 

 term " Nebraska culture " thus given seems a convenient name for 

 the inclusion of all lodges of this sort marked by the same distinctive 

 pottery and artifact complex, hence it has been adopted in the present 

 work. The characteristics of the Nebraska culture as revealed by the 

 work of Gilder. Sterns, and the University of Nebraska Archeo- 

 logical Survey in 1930 and 1931, will be summed up and discussed 

 in a later section. 



Dr. Gilder has not confined his activities entirely to the earth 

 lodges but has also excavated a number of burial mounds and other 

 sites in the same region.*" The much-discussed excavations at Long's 

 Hill have already been mentioned. The large collections made by 

 Gilder are considerably scattered. Much material is in storage at 

 the State Museum at Lincoln, an excellent collection obtained between 

 1907 and 1 91 2 is on exhibition at the Omaha Public Library,*' and a 

 third collection is in Gilder's own possession. The credit for having 

 discovered and brought to scientific attention the unique Nebraska 

 culture must go entirely to Gilder. Others have enlarged upon and 

 in part corrected his work, but he has been the pioneer in a field in 

 which he is still an active figvire. 



During the years 191 2- 191 4 the region of southeastern Nebraska 

 was worked both extensively and intensively by Dr. Frederick H. 

 Sterns for the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Eth- 

 nology. Sterns's work included parts of Thurston. Burt. Washington, 

 Douglas, Sarpy, Otoe. Nemaha, Richardson, and Lancaster Counties 

 in Nebraska, Brown and Doniphan Counties in Kansas, and Potta- 

 wattamie County in Iowa. In Nebraska he opened 2"] earth lodges of 

 the Nebraska culture, discovered the stratification at the important 

 Walker-Gilmore site in Cass County, and examined a large number 

 of other sites in the general region above outlined. His published re- 

 ports (1914, pp. 135-137; 1915, pp. 121-127) have been brief but 



*' Gilder, 1907 and 1909. See Sterns, 1914, p. 135, and Gilder, 1913, p. 107, 

 and 1926, p. 5, for correction in this regard. 



■^Gilder, 1907, p. 710: 1908; 1908 a, p. 173; 1909, pp. 61-76; 1913; 1914. 



"^ This collection fortunately has been well catalogued. ( See Gilder, R. F. 

 (no date), in bibliography.) 



