NO. 10 NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY — STRONG 167 



the same period and culture as those already excavated at the site. 

 A small trench 9 feet long and 3 feet wide was sunk to a depth of 4 

 feet in the northeast portion of the depression. Two large rim frag- 

 ments and a number of sherds identical with others from houses 1-3 

 and one piece of retouched " Nehawka " fiint were the only artifacts 

 recovered. The ceramic remains serve, however, to indicate the close 

 cultural relationship between house 4 and houses 1-3. The cross- 

 section revealed by the trench showed i foot 8 inches of dark 

 humous soil, a vague floor line at 2 feet 8 inches, and mixed nodular 

 soil to a depth of 36 inches where the yellow clay began. There was no 

 well-marked floor accumulation, and artifacts of any sort were scarce. 

 The occurrence of 20 inches of dark unmixed soil over house 4 as 

 compared to the rough averages of 12 inches of this layer over houses 

 I, 2, and 3 is rather remarkable. This discrepancy may be accounted 

 for by the location of house 4 farther down the ridge, where erosion 

 from above may have accumulated more soil, especially in a small, 

 deep house pit such as the i foot 6 inch depth to a pit 30 feet in 

 diameter suggests. In any event this marked difference in the depth of 

 soil accumulation subsequent to abandonment between houses yielding 

 identical pottery types indicates the danger of leaning too heavily on 

 the bare fact of subsequent soil accumulation for dating. Intricate 

 factors of local topography, soil analysis, and the exact nature of 

 each accumulation must be considered in such matters, and only close 

 cooperation between archeologist and soil geologist in the field can 

 give trustworthy correlations between depth of soil layers and the 

 relative age of sites. This is a very promising line for future research 

 and can be readily applied once the general nature and distribution of 

 prehistoric cultures in any particular region have been determined by 

 archeological excavation. 



ORGANIC REMAINS 



Animal remains from excavations at this site were not very abun- 

 dant ; moUusks were fairly common, but vegetal remains were absent 

 except in one case. Deer, especially the white-tail variety, as indicated 

 by antler fragments, were the most numerous animal species repre- 

 sented. Bison remains were decidedly rare except for a few teeth and 

 worked scapulae. Squirrel and rodent bones were fairly common in 

 cache pits. Many other animal remains could not be identified, owing 

 to the lack of comparative material already alluded to. The animal 

 remains as a whole were examined by advanced paleontological stu- 

 dents, and no evidence of the horse was encountered. The moUuscan 

 remains sent to Dr. Baker included four species from this site : 



