pip. N^.'llY" SHEEP ISLAND — OSBORNE, BRYAN, CRABTREE 275 



Most dwellings, although not an aspect of 45-BN-55, appear to have 

 been rounded or rounded-rectangular in ground plan, mat-covered 

 lodges. Often the floors of these lodges were sunk 1 or 2 feet, and 

 sometunes more, below the surface, at least for winter living. The 

 superstructures were not, however, the sturdy, permanent things that 

 were an aspect of the semisubterranean dwellings to the north (the 

 Canadian Plateau). 



Nonmaterial traits of the past may be inferred from the old, pre- 

 Plains Plateau culture. Political structures were presumably loose, 

 atomistic, and changing. Leadership may have been generally heredi- 

 tary. The people were probably peaceful (although burial 17 may 

 not agree), lacked a developed social stratification, and eschewed 

 competition. Female puberty rites, if we can continue to read back, 

 were not stressed ; the vision quest, even then partly formalized, was 

 an all-important life experience, at least to the male. 



SITE STRATIGRAPHY 



Because of the previous excavations by Garth at BN-55, and a 

 certain amount of collector's activity between the period of his excava- 

 tions and those by the River Basin Surveys in 1950, it was not possible 

 to get complete profiles at the site. The disturbed nature of the sur- 

 face is shown in plate 47, a; figure 41 contours do not express such 

 minor features. This lack of profiles is unfortunate, as a thorough 

 knowledge of the relationships between river deposition and the cul- 

 tural picture would have been of interest and might well have had 

 far-reaching value. However, there can be no quarrel with Garth's 

 interpretation of cultural sequences (Garth, 1952) ; remnants of the 

 cremation pits were found by the River Basin Surveys crew. Also, 

 the profiles made m 1950 do give a coherent, if sketchy, picture of the 

 site (pi. 47, h). A discussion of the pedologic composition of the site 

 follows. The profiles of figure 42 should be consulted as the 

 description is read. 



Stratum I. — Tliis was a much disturbed layer of coarse, sterile, 

 recent sand overlying the graves and, in many places, the midden 

 material. It appears more as a masking superficial cover than as an 

 aspect of the structure of the excavated area. In the northwest part 

 of the dig, on the 9-line, it is 2.0 to 2.5 feet thick and appears to gain 

 in depth as it extends west and upward. It is uniform from stakes 

 11 to 14 along the centerline, and fades, as one goes south over what 

 appears to be a buried small swell and swale in the site, along the 

 13-line. At 13R2 this stratum again expands in depth. 



Stratum II. — Again, this component of the soil profile was deeper 

 in the northeastern part of the excavation. It becomes less definite 

 along the 11-14 part of the centerline, possibly because this was once 



