Bay. Wo oe) SMALL SITES ABOUT FORT BERTHOLD—METCALF 49 
site can be but little over a hundred yards in length (east-west) with 
a maximum width of 60 yards and an average of 30 yards. 
A trench 30 feet in length, 5 feet in width, and oriented north-south 
was laid out across the terrace 50 feet west of the eastern tip and di- 
vided into 5-foot squares. This was dug to the undisturbed, yellow 
clay subsoil. The upper part of the terrace proved to be made up 
of a faintly laminated light and darker soil to an average depth of 
5.5 inches, although the actual measurements show this layer to vary 
from a depth of 1 inch to about 9 inches, the deepest part of the zone 
being at the center of the terrace, the shallowest on the south slope. 
Scattered flint chips were found near the top of the layer, only an inch 
or two below the surface. Beneath the layer, and overlaying the 
sterile yellow clay subsoil, was a band of dark soil varying from 4 to 
9 inches in thickness, but which most commonly measured close to 
6 inches (fig. 5). Feature 1 was present in this layer, near the south 
end of the trench, at a depth of 10 inches below the surface. This was 
a pit 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep, filled with burned 
stones—flat limestone slabs and granite cobbles (pl. 10). The inter- 
stices between the stones were filled with rich, black earth and char- 
coal. The sides of the pit were blackened, but there was no reddening 
of the soil although among the stones which formed the bulk of the 
fill was a lump of red-burned earth an inch or two in diameter. This 
feature may represent the pit and stones of a sweat-lodge; certainly 
it was not a hearth. 
Charcoal was scanty, but other camp and cultural debris was found 
throughout the dark layer, the first objects to be encountered coming 
out generally from a depth of 7 or 8 inches below the surface. Finds 
became more common at a depth of about 10 inches, and material 
was present to the underlying yellow clay. The very lowest part of 
the level, however, contained but little cultural material, and even 
the presence of some part of the scanty finds from that level may be 
due to rodent activity. 
Apparently there were two occupations at this site. The latest 
is represented only by a few flint chips and the half of a large glass 
bead (pl. 11, 4) which came from just below the surface. The earlier 
occupation, evidence of which was encountered at an average depth 
of about 8 inches, is represented by a handful of rather nondescript 
artifacts. 
From the lowest level of the 150 square feet of area uncovered in 
the course of this test, came 10 very small sherds, one of which is 
from the rim of a vessel. In color they are dark gray to black. 
Tempering is with a sparse amount of fine sand. The paste is com- 
pact and inclined to be flaky in texture with some distortion occasion- 
ally present about the tempering particles. There seems to be no 
tendency toward crumbling, and the ware is hard and rather brittle. 
