274 SMITIISOXIAX MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



the gap between the known historic and the entirely jirehistoric 

 horizons. 



The prehistoric period in Nebraska has been the main concern of 

 the present paper. It extends from 1541 fur an indefinite period 

 back into the past, a period for which culture sequences are being es- 

 tablished but for which even relative dates do not yet exist. In 1922 

 Fowke concluded that not a single bit of human evidence revealed 

 along the Missouri River in northern Kansas and Nebraska was 

 older than 10 centuries. Like Fowke, the writer admits that at present 

 most time estimates are mere guesses, yet his own opinion regarding 

 the earliest evidences of man in the region would change the centuries 

 of the former's estimate to millennia and regard this as an ultracon- 

 servative estimate. 



' In considering the prehistoric cultures of our area from east to 

 west, the Nebraska culture must be discussed. So far as known this 

 culture is entirely prehistoric and coincides rather remarkably with the 

 historic range of the sedentary Siouan tribes. Considering the average 

 accumulation of 15 inches of soil in the house pits of this culture 

 subsequent to their abandonment, the culture is not extremely recent, 

 but the transposition of such an accumulation into terms of years is 

 not yet possible. The earth lodges, although predominantly rectangular 

 in outline, are in a few cases round, suggesting a possible transition to 

 the historic type in the region. Of all the strictly prehistoric cultures 

 in Nebraska, this is perhaps the most advanced. It also shows more 

 contact with other peoples to the south and east, as evidenced by 

 modeling in pottery, clay pipes, human efifigies, and the occurrence 

 of intrusive ceramic types. From the scattered and often indefensible 

 nature of the isolated houses or small, strung-out villages it would 

 appear that the culture flourished in a period of relative peace. From 

 the abundance of charred maize and other vegetal remains in many of 

 these sites, the abundance of bone digging tools, and the quantity of 

 pottery found, a sedentary and horticultural life is also indicated. 

 There is a suggestion that mound burial was in vogue, at least the 

 previously exposed dead were deposited in small natural eminences, 

 and it is possible that careful excavation may establish the artificial 

 nature of some of these. Along the Missouri River the Nebraska 

 culture was preceded by a quite different sort of occupation, that of 

 the Sterns Creek culture people. To the west another prehistoric 

 people comprising the Upper Republican culture seem to have been 

 generally contemporaneous with the Nebraska culture. It remains 

 to be determined whether the Nebraska culture represents an earlier 

 Siouan occupation of the glacial area in the State or whether some 



