NO. lO NEBRASKA ARCHF.OLOGV STRONG 197 



Not realizing how much still remained to be done at the Walker 

 Gilmore site and having so many other areas and cultures in Nebraska 

 to investigate, the University of Nebraska Archeological Survey 

 from 1929 to 1 93 1 made no very well-planned or extensive investiga- 

 tions there. Nevertheless, as the foregoing data indicate, we were 

 able not only to verify Sterns" main conclusions but also to add con- 

 siderable information concerning the site. At the present writing, 

 having at last had access to Sterns' complete work and having 

 combined it with our own results, the author feels in a position to 

 ofifer a few suggestions regarding future work at the Walker Gilmore 

 site. The fact that he should have put many of these into practice 

 himself is freely admitted. It is always easier to advise than to 

 perform. 



First of all, the place calls for an extended period of cooperative 

 research on the part of both anthropologists and geographers. It 

 would therefore seem to be an unusually good project for the State 

 university, where men of both these departments are already working 

 together. The fact that it is only a few hours by motor from Lincoln 

 makes it accessible for week-end field trips on the part of both students 

 and research instructors. The entire site should be mapped and each 

 exposure given a number. Sterns' practice of deeply incising this 

 number on the gully wall above the strata seems very eft'ective and 

 prevents any mixup in referring to the different hearths or ash lenses. 

 Meanwhile the course of the older stream as indicated by gravel and 

 clay deposits could be mapped in by the geographers. Also the extent 

 and relationship of the different types of -soil would be diagramed. 

 The combined results of such a survey would be an accurate series 

 of maps showing the old dwelling places in relation to the former 

 stream, to the various soil deposits, and to the present gully of Sterns 

 Creek. It would undoubtedly be possible to obtain photostatic copies 

 of Sterns' map and his photographs of the exposures as they appeared 

 in 191 5. These could be compared with the new maps and the rate 

 of change in the local situation noted. The determination of the time 

 period involved since the Sterns Creek culture deposits were covered 

 over seems primarily a geographic problem. The actual age of surface 

 trees and the clay banding noted by Sterns should be of primary 

 assistance. It is worth noting that a large section of a tree about lO 

 inches in diameter was partially uncovered just above the thatch layer 

 at exposure lo. This might give some indication of the time in- 

 volved in the first filling of the old stream valley. Some system of 

 tree ring computation might prove of great value, but the fact that 

 the majority of trees in this immediate region seem to show little 



