130 BULLETIN 183, UNITED STATES NATIONAL IVIUSEUM 



several small seeps were visible along the creek banks in the summer 

 of 1938. Under primitive conditions, before large scale agriculture 

 exposed the soil above to excessive erosion, these doubtless yielded 

 enough water to have supplied a limited Indian population. Maize, 

 beans, pumpkins, and other food plants could certainly have been 

 grown here under favorable soil and moisture conditions. 



There is evidence that at least one earthlodge formerly stood a 

 short distance from the spring and just west of a small modern rock 

 quarry (fig. 12, A). Here, following a "gully-washer" one evening, 

 we found potsherds, chipped flints, bits of charcoal, and burnt clay 

 with grass impressions — the latter usually a good clue to house sites. 

 A little digging showed that these remains occurred to a depth of 

 fully 18 inches, though we were not able to locate a definite house 

 floor. Subsequently Mr. Shippee has made more extended excava- 

 tions. He reports (letter of Jan. 15, 1940) a rather surprising 

 abundance and variety of remains underground. These include 

 sherds "mostly of a mottled buff and gray color, the gray often being 

 very dark. The paste was a light gray but it has been burned to the 

 buff color in the firing. Loop handles, shouldered body, recurved 

 rims, and incised straight line designs are typical. The designs are 

 below the rim on the upper body. Sherd No. 6 ... is of a fine grit 

 and sand temper but it is hard, dark gray, and partly polished and 

 the workmanship is similar to what I observed at Steeds [i. e., Steed- 

 Kisker site] . . . 



"In piecing out the sherds, I find that I have seven or eight pots 

 represented, most of which were rather large vessels. I have esti- 

 mated the rim diameter to have been about 7 inches and the bodies 

 14 to 16 inches. One body sherd measures 17^^ inches along the arc 

 of the circumference. . . . Most body sherds are a quarter of an 

 inch or less in thickness. The rims are usually heavier. "Wliile only 

 one sherd shows shell tempering, I believe that it was used in nearly 

 all of these pots but has leached out. . . . One small sherd of a hard 

 cord-roughened ware was definitely grit tempered. 



"The flintwork was poor and nearly every flake picked up showed 

 some secondary chipping. It seemed to be of a makeshift char- 

 acter. . . . 



"Sandstone abraders were [abundant] but were mostly irregular in 

 shape. Several hammerstones and a metate all of quartzite were 

 found. . . . 



"A basin-shaped pit, the bottom of which was 30 inches below the 

 surface and 18 inches below the general mixture, contained in the 

 bottom a hard mixture of ashes and trash. Sherds, abrading stones, 

 and flint flakes were mixed in it but lying in one mass was charred 

 fiber, withes, mud-dauber's nest, and a %-inch corncob. From the 10- 



