76 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuLL. 185 
METHOD AND EXTENT OF EXCAVATION 
Owing to the late date at which the field party arrived at the site, 
and the small number of men in the crew, only a limited amount of 
excavation was possible at Star Village. After examining the site 
it was decided that in addition to mapping it, an attempt would be 
made to excavate a house floor in each quarter of the village and, 
additionally, the site of the large ceremonial structure. Because of 
the shallowness of the fill above the floors these operations required 
less time than was expected. Feature 10 was then excavated (Map 8), 
and the one feature outside the encircling ditch (Feature 13) was 
explored in order to determine if excavation would confirm the local 
belief that it was the site of a former log cabin. This it did not 
appear to be, nor did it fit the pattern found at Feature 10. Therefore 
another small earth-wall enclosure, Feature 15, was excavated. In 
addition to these excavations a large area was uncovered adjacent to 
a gap in the ditch in order to determine if any trace of a gate was 
present at that point, and two exploratory trenches were cut across 
the fortification ditch in the northwest part of the site before the 
approach of winter brought the 1951 field season to a close. 
Work began at the site on August 23 with a crew of eight laborers. 
On August 29 two of them left to return to school, and a week later 
four more left for the same reason. Two local men were then en- 
gaged, and supervisory personnel became laborers upon occasion. 
Work was greatly hampered by inclement weather during the entire 
period of operations there, at first by heavy rains and later by high 
winds and low temperatures. 
In excavating the house floors, operations began at the center of 
the area enclosed within the ring-mound. ‘The soil was first removed 
to a depth of 5 or 6 inches by vertical shovel-cuts. As soon as the 
center was cleared and the fireplace located, especial care was taken 
to remain well above the level of that feature. After the first layer 
of fill was removed to a point beyond the crest of the ring-mound, the 
loose earth was shoveled out. The floor of the excavation was then 
scraped deeper with trowels in an effort to find the floor of the 
structure, an effort which was never entirely successful at this site 
since the floors had never been subjected to constant trampling and, 
apparently, not prepared by beating. By using fireplace level at the 
center of the lodge and with the aid of occasional finds of bits of 
decayed willow rods and grass which had originally formed the first 
layer of roof covering, it was found possible to hold to the floor level 
with accuracy. Occasionally there was a slight admixture of finely 
powdered charcoal at this level which, although never marked, formed 
a slightly darker line which helped hold the floor level true. The 
floor of the ceremonial lodge, Feature 12, proved particularly hard to 
