220 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 179 



As in house pit 7, the side of house pit 6 nearest the river was lower, 

 suggesting an entranceway there. None of the houses, 5, 6, or 7, were 

 deep enough for a roof entrance to have been used. 



House 59 was quite different from any other structure excavated 

 in the McNary region. It was nearly 65 feet long and 161^ feet wide, 

 in the form of a rectangle with rounded ends (pi. 46, a). The floor 

 was less than 1 foot deep except where a small firepit had been dug 

 into the floor. The dimensions of this house were almost identical 

 to those of the multifamily imits reported by Ray (1939, pp. 136 137) , 

 Lewis and Clark (Thwaites, 1904-5, vol. 3), and others for the 

 historic period. Ray's informant reported that the mat lodge was 

 usually 60 feet long and 16 feet wide, rectangular in floor plan with 

 rounded ends. The superstructure was an inverted V section covered 

 with mats, although there was often a gap in the roof, the length of 

 the house, through which smoke might escape. Several families 

 could live in each mat house, each with its own fireplace. 



MATERIAL CULTURE 



Although there were several occupations of houses 5, 6, and 7, the 

 artifacts recovered from the various levels of occupation showed too 

 few differences to suggest any change in the material culture. In 

 house pits 5 and 6 the non-European artifacts were mostly cobble 

 choppers and hammers. An awl made of wood, a thumbnail scraper, 

 and two elk rib fleshing tools were also found. The fleshing tools 

 were simply sections cut off a rib and used without special preparation. 



In house pit 7 about the same kinds of materials were fomid. Be- 

 sides cobble choppers and hammers, a crude bone awl and a notched 

 net weight were recovered. House pit 59, the long mat house, was 

 more productive. Twelve projectile points from the floor included 

 three that were small and triangular, four that were small and comer 

 notched, two that were side notched, and three broken imclassified 

 points. These small projectile points made of obsidian, jasper, and 

 petrified wood are typically those of the late prehistoric and early 

 historic periods. A few flake scrapers and a hammerstone were also 

 recovered in house pit 59, as was a basaltic pebble that appeared to 

 have been used as an arrow-shaft polisher. 



The assemblage of European trade goods associated with the houses 

 was significantly different from that of either 45-BN3 or 45-WW-6. 

 Instead of glass beads and copper, the trade goods included fragments 

 of tin cups in house pits 5, 6 and 7; bits of glass, possibly window 

 glass, in house pit 59 ; and a fragment of canvas in house pit 7. Other 

 trade items included a large caliber rifle or pistol ball, a fragment 

 of a square nail, and a horseshoe and a machine-made mother-of-pearl 

 button. The horseshoe and button were in the fill of the houses and 



