18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Buin. 185 
The center postholes measured from 13 to 19.5 inches in diameter, 
while those in the secondary ring ranged from 11 to 19 inches with 
an average diameter of nearly 16 inches. Post butts did not always 
fill the holes, being as much as 5 inches smaller in some instances. 
Tighteners had been driven down beside some of them, billets of wood 
replacing the bison bones sometimes found serving this purpose in 
earlier lodges. There is some confusion in the notes regarding the 
depth of postholes, but apparently the center posts were planted 
deeper than those of the outer row, the holes for which varied from 
14 to 30 inches in depth. The leaners ranged from 2 to 8.5 inches in 
diameter but in general measured about 4 to 5 inches. 
The data regarding the entrance present a confusing picture. There 
is a strong suggestion in the excavated evidence that the entrance was 
somewhat shorter than that of the later lodge at Beaver Creek and 
that it projected only a short distance beyond the wall of the lodge. 
The Morrow photograph, however, shows an entranceway of approx- 
imately the same proportions as those of the Beaver Creek structure 
(pl.2,¢@). 
The floor was slightly saucer-shaped, being deeper at the center than 
at the edges. There was no suggestion that it had been intentionally 
excavated below the surface of the ground, its depth below the present 
surface being no more than might reasonably be expected as the result 
of the wear incident to 20 years of use. A small pocket cache which 
was present near the fireplace measured 6 inches in diameter at the 
mouth but expanded to 13 inches by the time bottom was reached 
at a depth of 15.5 inches. Except for its earth fill it contained only 
a piece of cloth which had been folded several times. 
The depth of fill above the floor varied from 14 inch directly above 
the ash at the center to as much as 21 inches at the edges and was 
composed of a lighter-colored, less compact soil than that forming the 
floor. A good yield of artifacts came from this fill, but the cultural 
remains from the floor were rather scanty. 
Although the dates for the erection and destruction of this lodge 
cannot be given with pinpoint accuracy, it is possible to give them 
rather closely. The Arikara moved to this site following an attack 
on their village across the river (82ME16) in August 1862 and aban- 
doned it at some time between 1880 and 1890. In 1950 an Arikara 
informant 65 years of age said that he was born at Like-a-Fishhook 
Village but had been told that only a few people were living there at 
that time. Apparently the village was largely abandoned by 1886. 
During the last 2 months of the 1951 field season a Missouri Basin 
Project party under Donald D. Hartle excavated a number of lodge 
floors at the Star Village site (832ME16, map 1), the last village built 
by the Arikara before they joined the Mandan and Hidatsa at Like- 
a-Fishhook Village. A ring-mound in the west-central part of this 
