ARCHEOLOGI'CAL INVESm CATIONS IN" MISSOURI 211 



1935, p. 296 ; Wedel 1940a, p. 320) . On present evidence, the somewhat 

 simpler Middle Mississippi dwelling type of the north as briefly char- 

 acterized above does not look like the ancestral form, though this view 

 may need revision when fuller data are available. So far as the 

 native occupants of the Steed-Kisker site are concerned, it appears 

 that they had taken over a definitely western or Plains type of earth- 

 lodge, probably from an already established local semisedentary 

 group affiliated with the Nebraska Culture. 



In view of the relative abundance of pottery at Steed-Kisker, at 

 any rate as compared to other materials, it is of interest to note that 

 virtually every ceramic element present here occurs also at Aztalan, 

 Cahokia, Kingston, and in Middle Mississippi sites in Fulton County, 

 111. Steed-Kisker presents, generally speaking, a less varied indus- 

 try, but the following items can be directly compared with the more 

 easterly localities: Decided preponderance of shell tempering, with 

 grit rare or absent ; smoothed to polished vessel surfaces, with a small 

 proportion of cord-roughened ware; incised decoration, usually on 

 upper portions of vessels; loop handles, commonly attached by rivet- 

 ing; animal or human effigies affixed to vessel rims; the oUa, with 

 hemispheric underbody, rounded or sharp shoulder, constricted neck, 

 low flaring or everted rim, and decorated upper body ; a shallow bowl 

 with cylindrical body and flattish bottom ; a bean-pot form with solid 

 handle; and possibly a low-necked water bottle type. Wliether the 

 "kiva-jar" type, as suspected at Steed-Kisker (see p. 78 and pi. 38, a), 

 has counterparts in the Middle Mississippi horizon I am unable to 

 determine. 



The incised pottery designs found at Steed-Kisker are also very 

 close to those reported in Fulton County, 111. (Cole and Deuel, 1937, 

 fig. 12, 4, 5, 26, 27), at Cahokia (Moorehead, 1928, pi. 21, fig. 5), and 

 at Aztalan (Barrett, 1933, figs. 118, 120, 122, 124, and pi. 92, 13, W, 2S). 

 These designs include the use of grouped parallel lines ; of undulating 

 single, double, or triple lines, sometimes with cross lines to give a 

 ladder effect; and of parallel lines encircling the rims of bowls or 

 other vessels. The designs, the finished vessels, and indeed the pottery 

 tradition generally are quite easily distinguished from the later Oneota 

 shell-tempered wares of this general locality. They differ almost 

 in toto from the pottery which occurs at Renner and related sites 

 nearby. 



Other artifact types at Steed-Kisker that probably point to the same 

 Middle Mississippi relationships are: Small triangular notched and 

 unnotched stone arrowpoints, paired sandstone abraders, flake or 

 spall knives,-" end scrapers, cylindrical antler rubbing tools, unpaired 



•"These differ from the Renner flake knives in having coarser secondary chipping along the 

 edges, and in being larger and less regularly shaped. 



