NO. 10 NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG I 51 



fire in conjuction with the two other fireplaces in the west and north 

 represented some sort of a directional symboHsm. 



From the available evidence it appears that house i had originally 

 been a square earth lodge, presumably used for ceremonial purposes. 

 The latter explanation seems best to accord with the following facts : 

 its unusual size and central position in the village, its unusual entrance 

 pit and long passageway, its three and possibly four directional fire- 

 places, and last of all the extreme scarcity of broken or whole arti- 

 facts as well as animal remains in the floor layer. Furthermore, there 

 is some reason to believe that the building was abandoned and gradu- 

 ally fell to pieces rather than being burned. The house was not com- 

 pletely excavated, owing to the fact that a test of the entire village 

 was desired and time was lacking. The paucity of artifacts in this 

 lodge also made it essential that we work other houses if a representa- 

 tive series were to be obtained from the site. 



Pottery 



The paucity of ceramic remains in house i is forcibly demonstrated 

 by the following list : 



Complete pots, none. 



Restored pots, none. 



Total number of sherds, 464 (rims and handles 39, body 425). 



Cord-marked sherds, 84 (rims and handles i, body 83). 



Plain ware sherds, 378 (rims and handles 36, body 342). 



Incised sherds, none. 



Sherds with slip (?), 2 (rims). '^ 



In all major characteristics the ware from house i and the Gates 

 village generally is closely similar to that from house 2 and the other 

 houses already described near Rock Blufifs. It is similar in color, 

 ranging from a buff -yellow to a dark gray or black, with the former 

 type predominating, in temper (ground stone with a considerable 

 amount of iron pyrites), and in general form. It dififers, however, 

 in being less well preserved than was the case in the Rock Blufifs 

 houses. The Gates site pottery is more crumbly, especially just after 

 recovery. The cord-marked sherds from house i are evidently paddle- 

 marked, and the cord impressions are irregular. Probably the superior 

 condition of the ware from Rock Bluflfs generally is due to better 

 drainage conditions at that site. For the present it will suffice to indi- 

 cate that the pottery from the two sites is clearly in the same cultural 

 tradition, leaving the matter of relative age for future discussion. The 

 rim types from house i are classified in table 6 (p. 253). 



