Riv. BAS. Sur. 
Pap. No. 26]. SMALL SITES ABOUT FORT BERTHOLD—METCALF 15 
Four large posts, at a radius of between 11 and 11.5 feet from the 
center of the fireplace and enclosing an area about 16 feet square, 
had formed the central foundation of the structure. Beyond these 
were 16 postholes arranged in a circle 56.5 feet in diameter. These 
were spaced rather regularly on a formula of 14 feet, 14 feet, 16 feet, 
and repeat, starting with the first post south of the entrance. This 
would leave a space of 8 feet between the outer post ring and the 
center of the ring-mound, which would indicate walls with a 45° 
slope if it is assumed that the leaner butts were at the approximate 
center of the mound and that the posts of the outer ring were 8 feet 
in height. Photographs, however, show that the wall was much steeper 
(pl. 1), indicating that the crest of the rmg-mound was beyond the 
position of the leaner butts. The position of the altar was indicated 
by a flat-topped mound a foot in height, 6 feet wide and 10 feet long, 
which projected from the wall toward the fireplace, opposite the 
entrance. 
The eastward opening entrance passageway was indicated by a 
narrow gap in the mound and there was but little else to mark its 
former presence. Three depressions marking posthole positions were 
found, but only a few heaps of earth marked the sides. Pictures 
taken in 1908 show very little earth present on the top of this feature 
(Curtis, 1909, pl. 157). These pictures show that each side of the 
entrance was formed by placing small poles close together with the 
butts on or in the ground and with the tops against a horizontal beam 
parallel with the long axis of the entryway. On the outside of these, 
five long poles have been fastened horizontally. The front pair of 
vertical support posts is plainly shown, and these carried the hori- 
zontal side beams which rest on top of the posts and not in forks. 
On top of these side beams are placed cross-members of hewn or sawn 
timbers to form the roof. Earth covered the top but was not piled 
against the sides, explaining why only the faintest traces of mounds 
remained to mark the sides of the entrance passage. 
As indicated by the gap in the ring-mound and by the position of the 
three visible postholes, the entranceway extended outward 18 feet from 
the crest of the encircling mound. It measured 6 feet 4 inches between 
the one pair of oppositely placed postholes, and the position of the re- 
maining posthole beyond the pair suggests that the entrance narrowed 
toward the outer end. 
Inside the earthen ring the surface was somewhat uneven, with a 
much lower and narrower ring-mound present at a point midway be- 
tween the center posts and the outer ring of support posts. Except for 
this low ring the surface level varied from an approximate equality 
with that outside to 7 inches above it. A few tests indicated that the 
fill above the floor was shallow, averaging no more than 6 to 8 inches 
in depth. Evidently there was no excavation for the floor, although 
