pS.^o.'lTf" DEMERY SITE — WOOLWORTH AND WOOD 133 



the Dodd and Phillips Ranch sites, in the vicinity of Pierre, S. 

 Dak. (1954, pp. 65, 110, fig. 31, j^i). Similar specimens occur in 

 the La Roche site (Meleen, 1948, pi. 3, 8-11) , the Spain site (Smith and 

 Grange, 1958, p. Ill, pi. 34, m), in sites of the Redbird Focus in north 

 central Nebraska (Wood, 1956), and in the Lower Loup Focus in cen- 

 tral Nebraska (Dunlevy, 1936, p. 197, pi. 13, b-d). In central South 

 Dakota, the La Roche Focus probably predates A.D. 1600, but the 

 Redbird Focus is estimated to date somewhat later, from about A.D. 

 1600 to 1700. The known Lower Loup sites contain trade goods and 

 probably date after 1700, although Wedel (1947, p. 155) has suggested 

 that the complex was in existence by about A.D. 1550. On an earlier 

 time level, Spaulding (1956, pp. 56-57, pi. 4, b-e) found them at 

 Arzberger. Wedel (1955, p. 119) has suggested that these tools may 

 be a late time marker in the Central Plains, but in the Middle Missouri 

 area they are present in prehistoric times. They do not occur, how- 

 ever, in sites suspected of affiliation with the historic Mandan or 

 Hidatsa. 



The serrated fleshing tools made from bison or elk metapodials 

 were lacking at Demery, but there appears to be a substitute in the 

 form of a serrated rib tip. The wear on the working end of this tool 

 is the same as that on the blade of metapodial fleshers. 



Two antler artifacts are worthy of comment : these are the antler 

 cylinders, or "tapping tools," and the pierced strip bracelets. The 

 antler cylinders from Demery are identical to those from sites in the 

 Central Plains. Moving from the Demery site to the south, the first 

 instance of these tools appearing is at the Payne site (Wilmeth, 1958, 

 p. 10, fig. 22), and they occur also at the Spotted Bear site (Hurt, 

 1954, p. 18, fig. 22, VIII), and at the Scalp Creek site (Hurt, 1952, 

 p. 42, fig. 25, 9). "Tapping tools" also occur in sites of the Redbird 

 Focus (Wood, MS., 1956), in the Leary Oneota site (Hill and Wedel, 

 1936, pi. 10, a)y and in sites of the Oneota, Nebraska, and Upper 

 Republican aspects in the Central Plains. Short antler cylinders, 

 usually only slightly longer than their maximum diameter, are in the 

 Historical Society collections from the Biesterfeldt Cheyenne site and 

 the On-a-Slant Mandan village, as well as at the Hujff site (Wood, 

 MS. a) , but they are not known to be present in Thomas Riggs Focus 

 sites. The affiliations of the "tapping tool" are felt to be with Central 

 Plains complexes and with the later sites in the Middle Missouri area. 



The two pieces of long, thin, pierced antler may be from bracelets. 

 Similar specimens from Paul Brave (Wood and Woolworth, 1964, 

 pp. 45-46, fig. 11, a-i), Double Ditch (Will and Spinden, 1906, pi. 36, 

 w-s), and Slant Village are of essentially the same form. We find 

 no record of them south of the vicinity of Mobridge (Baerreis and 

 Dallman, 1961, pp. 316-327, figs. 88-90), and it is possible that the 



