NO. lO 



NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 



165 



form of the house appears to have been rectangular with an actual 

 length of 22 feet and an approximate width of 20 feet. Two fire areas 

 were noted (fig. 19), a central fireplace about 4 feet in diameter and 

 a smaller fireplace in the central part next to the south wall. The 

 curving passageway from house 2 came into house 3 in the southeast 

 corner. No posts or post molds were encountered, and only small 

 amounts of charred wood occurred above floor level. These deposits 

 were most noticeable near the two fireplaces and in the southeast 

 corner around the passage entrance. Artifacts were exceedingly 



01 2 3 4- ^^ 6 FT 



Fig. 2.2. — Cross-section, north to south, house 3, Gates site. 



scarce in this house, but the majority of those found came from the 

 three areas just mentioned. In cross-section the soil layers of house 3 

 were identical with those of house 2 already described in some detail. 

 No evidence of subfloor pits was encountered nor was any entrance 

 way noted other than that above mentioned. 



Pottery 



As was true of other artifacts, very little pottery was recovered 

 from our excavations in house 3, as the following list indicates : 



Complete pots, none. 



Restored pots, none. 



Total number of sherds, 87 (rims and handles 11, body 76). 



Cord-marked sherds, 40 (rims and handles 2, body 38). 



Plain-ware sherds, 44 (rims and handles 7, body 37). 



Incised sherds, 3 (rims and handles 2, body i). 



Sherds with slip, none. 



All the sherds were grit-tempered, the majority being rather thin 

 and hard with fine tempering. A number, however, were thick and 

 coarsely tempered, and these were very soft, almost mushy in some 

 cases. The three incised sherds were exceptionally thin and hard. 

 The color of the pottery was predominantly a light buf¥, but there 

 were a few brick-red sherds. The thin, hard sherds are more or less 

 uniform in color throughout, whereas the thick, friable sherds are 



