68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, I26 



when Waldo R. Wedel became available to undertake the investiga- 

 tions. The time spent on the excavations was inadequate for more 

 than a beginning on this large and complex site and it seems essen- 

 tial that extensive additional work be accomplished to establish the 

 relationships of the many and varied features. In the limited time in 

 195 1, however, numerous test trenches were excavated to cross-section 

 the ditch associated with the late component and to determine the 

 stratigraphic situation. Also, a number of exterior cache pits were 

 dug, and five houses were completely or partially uncovered. Two 

 circular houses within the small fortified area were completely exca- 

 vated (pi. 12, b). Each had a central fireplace, four center posts, and 

 closely spaced posts about the periphery of the pit which had been 

 excavated below the surface. The entrance passages of both extended 

 toward the river, in a northerly direction. Neither had been burned, 

 and fragments of unburned timbers were found in the fill of both. 

 Some instances of superposition were found in this area, but these do 

 not necessarily indicate considerable time differences since metal was 

 found in some of the underlying features as well as in the upper ones. 

 It appears, however, that at least one earlier occupation lies beneath 

 the level associated with the circular houses. 



In the southeastern part of the site, excavations were in three cache 

 pits and in three large depressions. All the latter marked the loca- 

 tions of oblong rectanglar structures. One, 45 feet long by 34 feet 

 wide, had wall posts more widely spaced than in the round houses 

 and had a large, partially stone-lined fireplace on the long axis offset 

 toward the south wall (pi. 12, a). The position of the entrance is un- 

 certain. In the second house, 47 feet long by 30 feet wide, the floor 

 was difficult to define and no fireplace or entrance was found. The 

 excavation of the remaining house was not completed but presumably 

 will be when it is possible to return to the site. Overlying this struc- 

 ture was a rich midden deposit containing pottery of the kind char- 

 acteristic of the Myers site, in which the only house excavated was 

 circular. The presence of material of this sort overlying rectangular 

 houses seems to indicate that 39ST1 is a 3-component site and sug- 

 gests that round houses may be present as the dwellings associated 

 with the second component. 



No extensive burial areas were found, although some search was 

 made for them. 



Since the artifacts from the site are not available for examination, 

 no detailed or even general statement can be made relative to them, 

 except that the late component, a compact fortified village yielding a 

 moderate quantity of trade goods, appears to be in the Arikara tra- 



