66 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Eight other cache pits, numbered from 1 to 6A, were opened on the 

 slope 5 to 35 yards southwest of midden 1. All contained rich black 

 soil mixed with ash lenses, bones, and broken artifacts. Cultiva- 

 tion and slope wash had evidently reduced their depth as well as 

 mutilated the outline of their upper portions, but to what extent 

 is not determinable. None exhibited the bell-shape, widest at or 

 near the bottom, which characterizes many of the prehistoric and 

 historic caches of the western plains, and the deej)est was only 42 

 inches. 



The presence of the midden and cache pits immediately below a 

 well-drained flat large enough to accommodate one or more houses 

 led to renewed search to their northwest. Although the results were 

 uniformly negative, I am still of the opinion that such structures did 

 once exist here. Possibly tests made under more favorable ground 

 conditions and on more extended scale would yet reveal their remains. 

 If, however, the postulated lodges rotted rather than burned down, 

 their discovery might be extremely diflicult under any circumstances. 



Dimensions and contents of all caches found are summarized in 

 table 7. Pits 1 to 6A in the list lay southwest of midden 1 ; pits 7 to 

 9 were east and southeast of house 1, to be described presently; and 

 pits 10 to 13 were in midden 1. In the case of the last group, the 

 field number have been changed from midden 1, pit 1, pit 2, etc., to 

 pit 10, pit 11, etc., and added in their proper sequence to the others 

 listed. 



Immediately after harvest our activities were transferred to the 

 eastern portion of the terrace. Here again unfavorable ground con- 

 ditions made prospecting a vexing task. A single house site, and 

 three nearby pits were at length found and opened, and from them 

 were obtained a reasonable quantity of sherds and stone and bone 

 artifacts. 



House 1. — The only habitation site of which the entire floor area 

 could be worked out was situated on a well-drained lobe of the ter- 

 race 200 yards east by slightly south of the Steed residence and 15 

 or 18 yards east of the property line fence. It lay between the 787- 

 and 788-foot contours about 20 yards from the front of the terrace. 

 There was no surface evidence of a pit, and only meagre traces of 

 pottery and wattling clay were scattered about. These occurred 

 through the upper 12 inches of topsoil over an area 20 yards across, 

 centering as we subsequently learned about the house and its asso- 

 ciated pits. Because of this refuse mantle the actual limits of the 

 old house excavation remained uncertain until our digging had been 

 carried down to the normal surface of the brown clay subsoil. 



