Pap. ^'. 85]' HOSTERMAN SITE — ^MILLER 225 



bounded by encircling lines, or as interspersed "rainbow" elements be- 

 tween series of horizontal parallel lines comparable to types illustrated 

 by Will and Spinden (1906, pi. XL, g, i, and o) . No two patterns are 

 exactly alike. The size of the cords may vary — some are rather small 

 and others are coarse ; some have the horizontal elements closely spaced 

 and others are spaced farther apart and not quite so carefully placed ; 

 and still others show greater neatness in covering up the ends of the 

 diagonal lines by the horizontal lines. 



The cultural pattern, as represented at the Hosterman site, does 

 not seem reasonable. While the main portion of the settlement was 

 surrounded by a palisade and ditch, which would indicate that it 

 was built for defense against external marauding parties, other houses 

 together with their trash areas occurred to the east and north of the 

 palisaded area unsurrounded by any protective device. Why it should 

 be necessary for one portion of the site to be protected by a palisade 

 and ditch while another section of the same village did not require 

 such features poses a problem. Whether the palisade was maintained 

 throughout the short history of the site or only for a brief period, 

 could not be determined. However, since there was such a feature 

 the inhabitants must have felt the need for it ; otherwise they would 

 never have expended the time and effort to secure the necessary ma- 

 terial and to erect such a structure. Furthermore, only a compara- 

 tively few projectile points were recovered. These were of insufficient 

 number to arm the inhabitants against any agressive exterior action, 

 to say nothing about the number that the hunters would require to 

 secure sufficient game to feed the hungry. There must be some logical 

 explanation to the situation, but it is not apparent. It may be that 

 other materials were used on projectiles, such as hardened wooden 

 tips, which were not preserved in the site. 



Contrariwise, stone scrapers far exceeded in number the stone pro- 

 jectile points. This appears to indicate that the need for scraping 

 far exceeded that of a killing nature and that the materials were at 

 hand upon which these tools were used. The scrapers have been used 

 to fashion wooden containers and tools but such would seem highly 

 unlikely. With the great mass of animal bones present, attesting to 

 success in the hunt, hides must have been plentiful and they would 

 have had to be prepared for use. Hence the large number of scrapers. 



Cultural refuse was nowhere thick on the site except in midden pits. 

 Within the village it was sparse. Even house floors, while firmly 

 packed, were not only barren of refuse but were not as firmly packed 

 as they should have been if the house had been occupied over a long 

 period of time. These two characteristics apparently would indicate 

 a limited occupancy of the site, one of very short duration. 



No traces of any European trade goods or contact were found. 



