NO. 10 NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 217 



ment of a sandstone shaft polisher and two flat meahng or rubbing 

 stones (one 12 by 14 inches) have been recovered. Chips, cores, and 

 rejects are abundant, brown quartzite, yellow and brown jasper and 

 lesser amounts of smoky black obsidian being most noticeable. Bone 

 work is rare, one large section of cut elk antler and a few frag- 

 mentary flint knappers of bone being the only artifacts of this sort in 

 the Hill collection. The occasional occurrence of trade copper and 

 glass beads has already been discussed. Such are the cultural evi- 

 dences in these three sites on the Dismal River, and, whether they 

 may ultimately be determined to pertain to the Comanche occupation 

 or not, they are unique in many regards so far as other known Ne- 

 braska cultures are concerned. The sand hill region is not generally 

 of great archeological promise, owing to its constantly shifting nature, 

 but it must be remembered that the same wind which covers up last 

 week's camp may uncover the hearths of a thousand years ago. 



Gravel Deposit Containing Artifacts and Fossilized Bones 

 (Bird Creek Canyon Site), Sarpy County 



On October 27, 1929, Dr. Robert L. Reynolds and the author, while 

 searching for ancient burials along the high bluffs bordering the Platte 

 River across from Ashland, found what appeared to be crude chipped 

 stone artifacts in a gravel deposit covered by about 12 feet of yellow 

 loess. This deposit occurs in the steep banks of a very small stream 

 at a spot locally called Bird Creek Canyon (pi. 22, fig. 2, a). Bird 

 Creek is intermittent, and its course extends a short distance west 

 through the river blufifs and then turns south to flow across the bot- 

 toms into the Platte (see maps, figs, i, site 34 ; 23). Located just east 

 of that point in the Platte River where Saunders, Cass, and Sarpy 

 Counties come together, the site is in the latter county about 2 miles 

 east of the town of Ashland and 3 miles southwest of Gretna. The 

 most noticeable topographic feature in the vicinity is the rather strik- 

 ing line of bald, high blufifs, between 1,100 and 1,200 feet in elevation, 

 which extend in a northeasterly direction from the river. These are 

 part of the same chain which continues to the south along the Platte 

 just east of Ashland. Bird Creek is rather short, and after draining 

 the higher country just behind the steep river blufifs, passes through 

 a rather rugged little canyon to the flat, low river bottoms. This 

 canyon is beautifully wooded, and the gravel deposit under discussion 

 occurs in the creek bank between an eighth and a quarter of a mile 

 east of where Bird Creek crosses the road at the foot of the bluffs. 



Five visits (October 27, 1929, March 29, 30, 31, and April i, 1930) 

 were made to this site. On the last trip we were accompanied by 



