NO. lO NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 205 



for implement making, knowing that stone containing moisture was compara- 

 tively easy to shape as desired and that stone from exposed cliffs was difficult 

 of shaping. As these pits are now nearly filled with material eroded from the 

 hill higher up and decayed vegetation, those who first worked the quarry must 

 have been there in the very dim past. 



From their extent, and from the widespread use in prehistoric 

 times of the pecuHar type of flint said to come from this vicinity, the 

 problem of the Nehawka flint quarries assumes considerable im- 

 portance. When dotibt has been removed concerning their prehistoric 

 and aboriginal human origin, these quarries may rank with the 

 " Spanish Diggings " of eastern Wyoming as one of the most im- 

 portant sources of native artifact material in the Plains area. 



The Problem of Nebraska Mounds 



A problem in Nebraska archeology already totiched on concerns the 

 exact nature of the numerous " Indian mounds " reported from the 

 eastern part of the State. Although it has been tacitly accepted by 

 the majority of local field workers that these are of artificial origin, 

 my own investigations lead me to question the universality of such 

 a conclusion. A brief discussion of the ethnographic and archeological 

 data bearing on this problem may serve to point the question. 



The portion of Nebraska bordering on the Missouri River within 

 historic times was occupied from north to south by the Omaha, Oto, 

 and Missouri, with possible temporary incursions by other Siouan 

 groups such as the Iowa and Kansa. According to Fletcher and La 

 Flesche (191 1), "mound burial was the common practice of the 

 Omaha ". The dead were buried in shallow graves in a sitting pos- 

 ture, facing east, under a pole framework which was covered with 

 earth. A fire was kept burning for four nights at the grave. Accord- 

 ing to Bushnell (1927), Oto and Missouri burials were very similar, 

 whereas Kansa graves in the earth were covered over with rocks. The 

 heart of the State was occupied by the Pawnee tribes of Caddoan stock 

 among whom individual inhumation in hilltop graves seems to have 

 been an almost universal custom within historic times. An old photo- 

 graph of heaps of sod over what are said to be Pawnee graves (Bush- 

 nell, 1927, pi. 36) is the only suggestion of mortuary mounds on record 

 for this tribe, and recent archeological investigations in historic sites 

 confirm the general absence of such structures (Wedel, no date). 

 Since the other historic tribes occupied western portions of the State 

 from which no mounds have been reported, they need not be con- 

 sidered here. 

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