184 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



were these human remains and so small in quantity that it is difficult to 

 understand the occurrence. Probably this was an ossuary of the Ne- 

 braska culture in which previously exposed human bones were placed. 

 The presence of the charred bones suggests that, since there is no evi- 

 dence of any general cremation, possibly the ancient people themselves 

 opened these ossuaries and took away the bulk of the bones when 

 they moved away from the valley. Such an occurrence would explain 

 the bone fragments that were left as well as the few artifacts with the 

 dead. Time was lacking to open any of the other three " mounds " 

 on the ridge and future investigation of these may clear up the prob- 

 lem. Similar ossuaries in apparently natural " mounds " near houses 

 of the Nebraska culture and containing pottery of that type were 

 found at the Saunders site near the mouth of the Elkhorn River in 

 Douglas County, as described above. Hence the probability that the 

 Nebraska culture people were responsible for this " ossuary " at the 

 Walker Gilmore site is strengthened. Of the burials of the still older 

 Sterns Creek culture peoples no evidence has yet come to light. 



THE STERNS CREEK CULTURE (dEEP STRATA) 



Since the cultural material from the lower strata in the gully of 

 Sterns Creek is uniform and represents a type distinct from that in 

 any prehistoric sites yet described, it may for the present be desig- 

 nated by the noncommittal term " Sterns Creek culture." In the fol- 

 lowing account an attempt is made to present all the available data 

 bearing on the artifacts and mode of life of these early inhabitants of 

 eastern Nebraska. 



Habitations 



In his account of the lower ash beds at the Walker Gilmore site 

 Sterns (1915, 1915 a, II, p. 187) only mentions finding fireplaces, 

 rubbish heaps, and a few storage pits. He figures one such pit (191 5 a, 

 pi. 41) containing ash and stone fragments which extends from the 

 upper stratum through the intervening blue clay into the lower ash 

 level. No deliberate storage of materials in such pits has been noted ; 

 rather they contain refuse and occasionally broken artifacts. A some- 

 what similar pit from exposure 4 is illustrated here (fig. 25, A). 

 Sterns makes no mention of either post molds or roofing material, 

 hence it may be assumed that such evidence was not observed. 



The general appearance of the ordinary ash strata may be seen in 

 the illustration and diagrams (pi. 19, fig. 3; figs. 25, 26). In general 

 these consist of an ash layer containing a definite hearth in the thickest 



