SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I93I 



155 



region just prior to the visit of Lewis and Clark. The writer was 

 especially fortunate on this part of his trip in being guided by A. T. 

 Hill of Hastings, Nebr. Mr. Hill is an enthusiastic amateur worker 

 in archeology whose knowledge of sites and cultures in southern and 

 central Nebraska is unsurpassed. 



After leaving the Dismal River, our party drove across the sand 

 bill region of Nebraska with its many lakes swarming with water 

 fowl to Scottsblufr, Nebr. Here we met Thomas L. Green of that 

 city, who had previously notified the writer of what appeared to be 

 a stratified site on a high mesa in the vicinity. ( )ur excavations, aided 



kj****..-**,^ 



Fig. 149. — View from the top of the mesa showing the creek junction. 



by Mr. Green and R. C. Swanson, amply confirmed the opinion of the 

 latter investigators as to the importance of the site. The mesa ('fig. 

 149) is about 100 feet high, nearly 400 feet long, and some 150 feet 

 wide. It is composed of Brule clay and limestone but, unlike the many 

 similar mesas nearby, it is capped with a deposit of some 6 feet of 

 sand and cultural detritus. A trench (fig. 150) run across the center 

 of the deposit revealed three levels of habitation. The first layer which 

 occupied the upper 2 feet contained quite numerous sherds of pottery 

 identical with the prehistoric Pawnee ceramics previously mentioned. 

 In addition, the small, notched, triangular arrow points, diamond- 

 shaped and bevelled knives, and other artifacts suggest this culture. 



