268 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



distinct culture. At present this one site is the only place where this 

 exact culture complex is known to occur, but there are some indications 

 that it may be found across the Missouri River in western Iowa and 

 possibly in other sites in eastern Nebraska. Since all the available 

 evidence on the Sterns Creek culture has already been presented in 

 the earlier section of this paper concerning the Walker Gilmore site, 

 we need only list its main characteristics. Particularly striking is the 

 evidence of small surface houses with thatched roofs, small posts and, 

 perhaps, walls of bark. Equally distinctive is the pottery from the 

 lower level, which appears to have had definitely pointed or conical 

 bottoms, has no collar and no sharp angle between shoulder and rim, 

 lacks any general body cord marking or incisions, lacks all secondary 

 features, such as lugs or handles, is crumbling rather than flaking in 

 texture and was apparently coiled rather than lump modeled (pi. 19. 

 fig. i). Its decoration is simple, consisting in a great majority of cases 

 of delicate scallops around the outer edge of the rim, made with a 

 blunt instrument or with the fingers, and in rare cases of a design on 

 the neck made by single heavy cord impressions forming simple pat- 

 terns. This pottery, although not very abundant, occurs in all the 

 exposures in the lower level at this site and is both uniform and unique 

 in type. The only other pottery artifacts recovered here were frag- 

 ments of straight conical tobacco pipes. Of stone artifacts, only one 

 excellently polished celt or ax fragment and a few simple hammer- 

 stones, a very few crudely chipped notched and unnotched arrowj^oints, 

 ovoid and retouched flake knives or scrapers, and one large crude 

 pick or hand ax have been recovered. Bone and antler work, on the 

 other hand, is excellent, including in the i)resent list numerous awls 

 or needles with eyes, antler picks and knapping tools, one bone bead 

 and one perforated animal toe bone (part of a " ring and pin " game). 

 \\'ood and shell occur in this horizon, the former material being defi- 

 nitely worked in a few cases. Especially notable is the presence of 

 numerous squash and gourd remains but, so far as known, no evidence 

 of maize. Likewise, the fact that deer bones predominate heavily over 

 those of the bison in the refuse deposits is undoubtedly significant. 

 Such in briefest resume is the culture so far revealed in the lower 

 strata at the Walker Gilmore site. It is remarkable for many things, 

 such as its great depth of deposition, its occurrence under remains of 

 the prehistoric Nebraska culture, and the unique nature, so far as 

 Nebraska is concerned, of its cultural ccnnplex. Although this culture 

 seems uni(iue and somewhat out of place within the State, it has certain 

 definite analogues elsewhere which will be discussed shortly. 



