Riv. BAs. Sour. 
PAP. NO. 27] STAR VILLAGE—METCALF 89 
tion of leaner butts was indicated, in some instances in which the house 
was destroyed by fire, by the presence of small fire-reddened areas 
where the butts had rested. I have noted the same fire-reddened areas 
left by burned leaner butts around excavated Pawnee lodges in Ne- 
braska. Nothing of this sort is mentioned as occurring at the Dodd- 
Phillips Ranch sites and the condition was, presumably, not found. 
Study of the published floor plans of the houses excavated at the 
Dodd and Phillips Ranch sites show other similarities as well as 
differences when compared with the floor plans of houses from Star 
Village. Floor plans of Dodd site (39ST30) houses suggest that 
some more closely resemble those from the Star Village than do 
others at the site or than those found at the Phillips Ranch (39ST14). 
This applies particularly to Dodd site Feature 1 (Lehmer, 1954, p. 8), 
Feature 7 (ibid., p. 9), and Feature 73 (ibid., p. 14). In two of the 
three, the center posts do not form a good square, and the outer post- 
ring much more resembles that of the later structures than do the 
others from the two Oahe Reservoir sites. The absence of many 
closely set posts in the outer ring suggests that leaners were used here. 
The floor plans of Features 8 (ibid., p. 10), 11 (p. 11), and 106 (p. 
15) suggest that they also used wall leaners entirely or in part. 
Entrances of Features 7 and 11 are of the short four-post type found 
at 82ME16, while that of Feature 73 (p. 14) tends in that direction. 
At the Phillips Ranch site the presumed ceremonial lodge opened 
to the northeast, as did that found at the Dodd site and at Star 
Village. At Like-a-Fishhook Village (Metcalf, 1962), the ceremonial 
structure opened to the east. At the Star Village site all or most 
of the surrounding houses opened toward the ceremonial structure or 
the plaza in front of it, a trait not present at either of the Oahe 
Reservoir sites where the majority of the houses opened to the north- 
east. At the Phillips Ranch site (395T14) the presumed ceremonial 
lodge stood at the approximate center of the site, as did that at Star 
Village. 
One of the greatest differences between the round structures 
uncovered at the Dodd and Phillips Ranch sites and those un- 
covered at Star Village lies in the fact that at the two South 
Dakota sites the floors were definitely in dug pits, while at the North 
Dakota site the floor was on or just below ground level. At the 
Phillips Ranch site the floors were found at an average depth of 2.25 
feet below surface, the range being from 1.8 to 2.9 feet. Those at the 
Dodd site measured about the same, an average of 2.11 feet with a 
range of from 1.5 to 2.8 feet. No measurements are available for the 
Leavenworth site. At Star Village no floor was more than a foot 
below the surface at the center, and within the ring-mound the surface 
was somewhat higher than outside it so that floors at, or but little 
below, surface level are indicated. It must be noted, however, that 
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