152 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



From this place the combined party moved over to the Platte River 

 to investigate a reported association of fossil bison remains and flint 

 points. After some difficulty the site was located, but owing to the in- 

 ability of the man reporting the find to get in touch with us little could 

 he learned as to the nature or significance of the discovery. Shortly 

 after this our party visited a site near Angus, Nebr., where A. M. 

 Brooking, of the Hastings Museum, had reported the finding of a flint 

 point under the scapula of a Columbian mammoth. Mr. Brooking 

 kindly gave us a glimpse of the point and showed us the place under 

 the scapula from which it had been removed. While the writer, on 

 the basis of other evidence, is inclined to favor the probability oi 

 human remains occurring with extinct animals in Nebraska, he rather 

 doubts the significance of tbe present find. The bones were much dis- 

 arranged, one tusk occurring some 60 feet from the scapula, while the 

 majority of bones were in water-borne material. Granting that a 

 dart point had been driven into the superficial muscles of the shoulder 

 it is hard to imagine how it might have retained its direct association 

 during the period of decay and subsequent movement. The time per- 

 mitted for my examination of the point itself was too brief to form 

 any conclusions in this regard and no other traces of human associa- 

 tion were observed at the site. 



The next three days were occupied by a trip up Medicine Creek, a 

 northern tributary of the Republican River, and an examination of 

 the forks of the Dismal River in Hooker County, Nebr. Prehistoric 

 Pawnee sites were observed along the Republican River and on Medi- 

 cine Creek. Along the latter stream the local collectors report stone- 

 lined graves rather than tbe hilltop ossuaries which mark prehistoric 

 Pawnee sites along the Republican. Otherwise, to judge from pottery 

 and other artifacts, the cultures are closely similar. The forks of the 

 Dismal River are of especial interest since it is here that Omaha 

 Indian tradition locates a " fort " of the " Padouca Nation " who are 

 known today as the Comanche. The high ground at the forks (fig. 147 ) 

 was gone over carefully but no traces of any extensive occupation were 

 observed. There are, however, deeply eroded areas or blowouts on 

 this ridge which would serve admirably either for defense or con- 

 cealment. Three surface sites are located on the Dismal in this 

 vicinity. Two of these sites yielded a few fragments of a black, grit- 

 tempered pottery. The third site yielded pieces of an extremely heavy 

 ware, so deeply cord-marked as to suggest corrugations and without 

 any visible tempering other than holes. The rather common occur- 

 rence of black obsidian on all these sites may indicate the more 

 westerly connections of the Comanche who apparently occupied the 



