ARCHEOLOGICAL LNTVESTIGATIONS IN MISSOURI 131 



to the 20-inch levels there was a compact area of wattle, some pieces 

 of which are 5 inches in diameter and show the leaf and grass im- 

 pressions quite plainly. Large body sherds were mixed with this 

 wattle. A part of rim 6 came from the bottom of this pit and is 

 much darker than the pieces from near the surface. No bone work 

 was found, but a few charred scraps and what I believe is a human 

 mastoid were uncovered. 



"I could detect no postholes nor a floor. I think this area is a mid- 

 den and that farther up the slope may be found a lodge floor. . . . 

 Fifty feet to the northwest at a depth of 3 feet a fire-reddened area 

 is exposed in a wash. Limestone slabs are associated with it. Here 

 in 1938 we found our specimens." 



Sherd No. 6, mentioned in the passage quoted above, was forward- 

 ed to the National Museum. A careful restoration, based on projec- 

 tion of vertical and horizontal curvatures, resulted in the specimen 

 illustrated in plate 38, a. The original sherd, whose polished surface 

 shows pitting due to leached shell fragments, has two parallel hori- 

 zontal lines immediately below the lip ; the zone between the parallels 

 and the rounded shoulder is filled with carelessly incised lines tan- 

 gent to the orifice. As restored the vessel has a height of 14.6 cm., 

 a body diameter of 18.3 cm., and an orifice of 8 cm. While it differs 

 somewhat in shape from vessels included in our own findings (cf. 

 fig. 10), the lip and adjacent upperbody are strongly reminiscent of 

 certain rim fragments from Steed-Kisker, which I tentatively ascribed 

 to a lidless form resembling the kiva-jar of the Southwest. 



Shippee's findings on the bank of Pearl Branch, so far as they 

 go, tally with ours at Steed-Klisker, and I think his assignment of 

 the remains to the same archeological horizon is justified. Moreover, 

 I am of the opinion that he is probably on the trail of a definite hab- 

 itational unit, though from the pronounced slope of the hill it looks 

 as if the natives picked a singularly awkward site. In any case, it 

 still seems highly improbable that village remains of any great areal 

 extent or vertical depth exist along Pearl Branch. On the basis of 

 present evidence it would appear more plausible to regard Shippee's 

 discoveries as indicative of the presence of one or several house units, 

 which in the latter event were very likely scattered here and there 

 on suitable spots each of relatively small extent. 



The floor of the Missouri Valley vicinal to the mouth of Pearl 

 Branch valley is mostly low-lying and in wet weather becomes ex- 

 tremely muddy. Terraces are wanting, and there are few elevations 

 high enough to appear at all inviting from the standpoint of per- 

 manent human habitation. Along the foot of the bluffs, to or beyond 

 the town of Waldron, there is some evidence of a low narrow out- 

 wash slope, which is much better drained than the bottoms. If prim- 



