156 BUREAU OF AMERICA:N- ethnology [ehll. 76 



much revision doAvnward. His chief work has been done north of 

 Howe at a phice 9 miles from the nearest point on the Missouri River. 

 Here is a small level area at the end of a ridge sloping away in every 

 direction except at the narrow isthmus connecting it with the fields 

 beyond, which are at a level only slightly higher. Thus there is no 

 chance for any accumulation from the adjacent surface. On this ridge 

 are a few lodge sites which Hughes has excavated. In every respect 

 they are similar to lodge sites reported from other localities in this 

 region. The walls, the depression, the floor, the fireplace, are all the 

 same. The depressions are filled with earth to a depth of 18 to 22 

 inches above the level of the old floor ; and Hughes reports that wher- 

 ever he has dug on this ridge he has found flint chips, charcoal, 

 fragments of pottery, and scraps of bone to about the same depth. 

 Next below the soil is the Kansan glacial drift ; but the assertion that 

 objects found at this depth are of the same age as the drift is not 

 necessarily or even presumably correct. 



PERU, NEBRASKA 



On various hills in the vicinity of Peru are lodge sites, some of 

 them circular, some rectangular, some with straight sides and 

 rounded corners. Most of them have been dug in at random ; in every 

 case after a certain depth of accumulated earth and trash is passed 

 through, there is a layer of clay which formed the roof, and beneath 

 this the hard earth floor with fireplace usually in the center but some- 

 times a little toward one side. 



PAPILLION. NEBRASKA 



At the time of my visit. Dr. Frederick H. Sterns, of the Peabody 

 Museum, was working near here. He described himself as " the man 

 who is extremely anxious to find a glacial or other very ancient man, 

 but so far has not succeeded in getting track of him." Dr. Sterns 

 did not claim a period antedating the Indian for anything he had 

 then unearthed — meaning the known Indian tribes. 



VICINITY OF OMAHA, NEBRASKA 



To the southward of Omaha are man^^ lodge sites of varying 

 depths and diameters. The deepest one reported had a depth of 9 

 feet below the surrounding surface, and at the bottom of this was a 

 pit (or " cache," as they are locally known) with an additional depth 

 of 4 feet, or 13 feet of excavation in all. This was near the so-called 

 " cannibal house," where 14 human frontal bones were found under 

 conditions which indicate they had belonged to individuals who were 

 eaten by other inmates of the lodge. 



