NO. 2 SALVAGE PROGRAM, I95O-I95I — COOPER 59 



Seven earth lodges resembling more or less closely the two previously 

 investigated and another, deviant, structure were excavated in the area 

 enclosed within the ditch (Area A). The lodges (pi. 9, b), circular 

 in ground plan, were outlined with posts and, with one exception, had 

 four inner roof support posts. The exception, an unusually large 

 house, boasted six center posts. Other invariable features were basin- 

 like central fireplaces and vestibule entrances. The atypical structure 

 had a central fireplace and four center posts in a compacted floor area, 

 but there was no outer row of posts nor was there evidence to indi- 

 cate the nature of the entrance. Cache pits within the houses were 

 rare, and the few that did occur were ordinarily small, but the nu- 

 merous test trenches excavated throughout Area A uncovered a num- 

 ber of large cache pits, as well as some 20 other refuse-filled pits, 

 probably originally borrow pits. 



The excavations in Area A failed to uncover any considerable con- 

 centrations of material in the lower occupational level, but tests made 

 late in the season to the southeast and outside the ditch-enclosed vil- 

 lage demonstrated that the terrace had been rather intensively oc- 

 cupied during the earlier period. In this location (designated Area B), 

 a buried zone apparently corresponding to the lower level in Area A 

 was found to contain cultural debris, including cord-marked pottery, 

 in quantity. Above this zone, the soil that had been disturbed by 

 cultivation contained material like that in the late occupation of the 

 fortified part of the site. One earth lodge, falling within the range of 

 those lying inside the ditch, was excavated, as were several pits, some 

 assignable to the upper level and others to the lower one. 



Pending laboratory analysis, it is not possible to say much about 

 the artifact complexes of the two occupations. As previously indi- 

 cated, the earlier pottery is characterized by predominantly cord- 

 marked bodies, the later by simple-stamped bodies. The pottery of 

 the later component appears to resemble rather closely that of the 

 Oacoma sites (39LM26 and 39LM27), excavated by the Nebraska 

 State Historical Society, and of the Fort Thompson focus component 

 at the Talking Crow site, investigated by the University of Kansas. 

 The ceramics from these sites, and probably the remainder of the 

 artifact complex as well, seem related, not at all remotely, to the 

 Lower Loup sites in Nebraska. Roughly equivalent dates for the 

 various sites are suggested by the presence of relatively minor amounts 

 of White trade materials, although there are undoubtedly some time 

 differences. The late component of the Oldham site, for example, is 

 probably somewhat earlier than the Oacoma sites, judged by the 

 relative quantities of trade goods. 



