146 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 189 



House pits occur outside of the ditch to the east and northeast. Depressions 

 rather shallow and poorly defined. Ditch is also relatively shallow throughout 

 most of its length ; varies from ca. 0.5' to ca. 2.5' in depth. [*] 



Early in October 1951, Eichard P. Wheeler revisited the site and 

 put down a series of test holes within the palisaded area. He noted : 



The total area (inside and outside the ditch) measures about 500' north-south 

 and 400' east-west, and cover a little over 4i/^ acres. Elevation, 1,570' to 1,580'. 

 Test pits produced evidence similar to that reported by Dorothy Fraser in 1949 ; 

 a blanket of sterile silt underlain by two strata of occupation debris separated 

 by a layer of sterile sand .... Windblown silt has all but obscured the 

 house depressions and defense ditch (on the east side of the site) : artifact 

 material does not appear on the surface. A small amount of pothunting has 

 occurred and the specimens found in an anthill in 1953 were discarded by relic 

 hunters. [*] 



I began a partial investigation of the site on June 23, 1956, at which 

 time my crew consisted of : John Anderson, Lincoln, Nebr. ; Norman 

 Barka, Chicago, 111. ; Tyler Bastian, Stockton, Wis. ; Gordon Dentry, 

 Baltimore, Md. ; Edwin Floyd, Canyon City, Colo. ; Hugh Carl Jones, 

 Provo, Utah ; and Dale Osterholt, Platte, S. Dak. Mrs. Kuth Miller, 

 my wife, acted as housekeeper and cook for the crew. 



EXCAVATIONS 



Prior to the beginning of the 1956 work, the major part of the site 

 was covered with a heavy sod that had sealed in almost all of the 

 cultural debris deposited by the former occupants, and the area to the 

 north and east of the stockade trench was planted to watermelons. 

 The area under cultivation showed islands of heavy cultural debris 

 and shell material presumably marking refuse dump areas outside 

 of dwellings. Shell deposits were heavier outside the stockaded area 

 than inside. The surface inside of the stockade ditch was marked 

 with a series of depressions of various shapes and sizes. The most 

 prominent depressions were circular in outline and of various sizes, 

 ranging from 20 to 40 feet across; the others were irregular in out- 

 line and of various depths, but none were very distinct or deep. 

 Surrounding the main portion of the village were the remains of a 

 stockade ditch in the form of a crescent, the open ends being to 

 the west and southwest and terminating at the edge of the western 

 bluff. 



During excavation, it was found that the normal stratigraphy 

 within the site consisted of a relatively distinct sod layer with its 

 attendant root zone that extended to a depth of 0.5 foot. This zone 

 was culturally sterile, and below it for another 1.0 to 2.0 feet was 

 a zone of sterile windblown loess of silt and fine sand. Below the 

 latter was the uppermost layer of cultural debris accumulated during 



* Field notes In files of Missouri Basin Project. 



