Riv. Bas. Suez. 
Pap. No. 27] STAR VILLAGE—METCALF 119 
treaty-making period. Indian Department records in the National 
Archives contain a list of goods requested for the Upper Missouri 
Agency in 1862, to be distributed in accordance with the terms of the 
Fort Laramie Treaty. This list includes such items as cloth, guns, 
gunflints, powder and ball, combs, hoop iron, and kettles. Objects 
found at Star Village which are on this list include tin cups, at 60 
cents per dozen, butchers knives costing $3.00 per dozen, and beads at 
$1.00 per pound. 
In 1862 the earthlodge was still retained as the common type of 
dwelling, but evidence has been presented above for believing that an 
aberrant house form was present. However, the earthlodge itself had 
undergone a change in the approximately 100 to 125 years preceding 
the occupation of this site. The change from the house pattern found 
at the upper level of the Dodd site, at the Phillip Ranch, Buffalo Pas- 
ture, and 39ST1 sites has already been discussed in detail. The circle 
of closely set posts at the outer edge of the lodge had been abandoned, 
and a further change seems to have taken place in the entranceway, 
where the shorter Mandan-Hidatsa type appears to have replaced the 
longer entrance of the earlier period. The earthlodge of the Arikara 
of 1862 definitely cannot be described as semisubterranean. 
It is of interest that no evidence of the presence of a screen between 
the entrance and the fireplace was found at this site. This was a 
marked feature of the lodges of the Mandan and Hidatsa, but as far 
as Iam aware it has not been reported for the Arikara. The centrally 
located, plazalike open space in front of the ceremonial lodge may be 
a trait taken over by the Arikara from their sedentary Siouan neigh- 
bors, although the map of the Phillips Ranch site suggests a tendency 
toward a centrally located ceremonial lodge surrounded by a rather 
regularly spaced ring of houses (Lehmer, 1954, p. 84). More data 
are needed regarding this detail of Arikara village plans. It may be 
that an already existing trend was strengthened by the generation- 
long residence of the tribe on the site of the old Mandan village at 
Fort Clark where the ceremonial plaza was already in existence. 
Earthlodges at Star Village fell into a general pattern in being 
circular, with central fireplace, four single or multiple primary foun- 
dation posts, and a variable number of outer support posts. Short, 
vestibule-type entrances were indicated. Actually there was a great 
variation between individual structures, and they conformed to pat- 
tern only in a general way. Specifically there was great variation in 
the number and position of the posts in the outer ring, in the centering 
of the fireplace, and in the centering of the four foundation posts. 
Possibly the earthlodge pattern was breaking down at this time 
and the people of this group were following the older pattern only 
in a slovenly way. Data from Arikara houses built at a later period 
at Like-a-Fishhook Village should be of value in determining this. 
