74 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



it completely through to the other. In practice, however, it is often 

 SO cHfficult to locate the edge of the actual house area prior to ex- 

 cavation that a central trench cleanly outlining the structure is apt 

 to save time and energy. 



All important artifacts and structural features were thus recorded 

 on separate diagrams as the work progressed, and in theory, when 

 these were assembled they should have given a complete reconstruction 

 of the site in question. The actuality, however, often left a great deal 

 to be desired. Only those who have worked in sites of this nature 

 where almost no solid structural features remain can appreciate the 

 difficulty involved in reconstructing the exact nature of a house from 

 evidence thus recorded. The older the site the more will rodents, in- 

 sects, and roots have disturbed the original _ features of the earth- 

 lodge structure, which naturally lacks any solid walls or floors differ- 

 ing in basic material from the surrounding earth. 



For this reason in all our later work we uncovered the entire floor 

 of the lodge at one time, removing the earth with wheelbarrows. In 

 this way we were able to go over every inch of the floor with trowels 

 in our search for post molds or other structural features, thus avoiding 

 the unpleasant discovery that despite the best of intentions we must 

 have overlooked such features, which, under the former system, would 

 already have been covered up by our dump heap. The matter of 

 features above the floor in this latter form of excavation was taken 

 care of by charting them in as the digging progressed. The matter of 

 soil layers above the floor may also be determined by leaving a datum 

 square of earth in the center of the house which may be compared 

 with the walls of the excavation beyond the edges of the floor. I 

 mention this last type of excavation at this point because I believe it 

 to be by far the best method for exploring the earth-lodge type of 

 dwelling. However, since the excavations covered in the present re- 

 port were for the most part carried on during the early part of our 

 Nebraska work it may be taken for granted, unless otherwise stated, 

 that the trenching system was employed. 



HOUSE I 



In house i there was little or no surface indication of any dwelling 

 other than a low mound not more than i6 inches higher than the 

 surrounding pasture land and roughly 60 feet in diameter. The 

 mound was irregular in outline, with its greatest height along the 

 north-and-south axis, although it was hardly noticeable as a rise in 

 the rough pasture land. Its artificial nature was only determined by 

 test pits, as there was no cultural evidence on the surface. 



