124 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



head was found 13 inches below the plow line and two others 17 inches below 

 the plow line. The two fairly good skulls that we got out were 47 inches and 

 50 inches down. There are several villages, so far as we know now, on Munson 

 and Davis Creeks, and all used the ossuary type of burial containing potsherd 

 offerings with disk shell beads. The pottery on these two creeks is very similar 

 [and] can readily be distinguished from any other pottery that we have found 

 in this country so far. There are some pieces that link in design with the 

 Republican River pottery [i. e.. Lost Creek and Graham sites], [but] the con- 

 clusion that I am compelled to draw from my observation so far is that there 

 is considerable difference between the Republican River pottery and the Loup 

 River Valley pottery. There will be pieces in all these sites that bear resem- 

 blances, but I have reference to the majority of the pottery. 



It may be added that all the skeletal remains and artifacts mentioned 

 may be foimd fully catalogued and accessible for study in the Hill 

 collection at the Hastings (Nebraska) Museum. From the Loup and 

 Republican River valleys we now turn to consider various prehistoric 

 sites along the Missouri River in eastern Nebraska. 



Village near Rock Bluffs (Rock Bluffs Site), Cass County 



In the spring and early summer of 1930 considerable work was 

 done in a small prehistoric village site located in the cemetery of the 

 little town of Rock Bluffs. The Rock Bluff's cemetery is above the 

 town on the Missouri River bluff's and about i mile to the north (fig. i, 

 site 20, fig. 13). Dr. G. H. Gilmore knew of a house site at this place, 

 and through his good ofiices we obtained permission to excavate. The 

 brushy area within the cemetery grounds had just been burned over, 

 and in going over the cleared ground we found three more shallow 

 house pits besides the one previously mentioned. The house pits 

 extended in a north and south line along the ridge for a distance of 

 about 100 yards. Possibly there were other houses in the plowed field 

 to the south, but no surface indications, either pits or cultural detritus, 

 were found there. The same may be said for the very brushy area 

 across the road to the north (fig. 13). The house pits within the ceme- 

 tery grounds are extremely shallow and show no other surface indica- 

 tion than a slight depression. Without the assistance of Dr. Gilmore's 

 trained eye we would never have noticed them. 



The general locale of the aboriginal village is on the first high ridge 

 above the Missouri River and about half a mile west of its present 

 channel. The ridges here are heavily wooded but through the trees 

 one may catcli attractive glimpses of the river and of the Iowa bottoms 

 and bluffs on the other shore. To the west the country is rolling, with 

 wooded ridges and small cultivated valleys. There is no water near 

 the site at the present time, though an outcrop of glacial drift a few 



