62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 176 



cabins with earthen floors. Windows were either few and very small 

 or totally absent. Doors were crude plank affairs hung on heavy 

 hinges. The roofs were low and flat and were covered with earth and 

 sod. All in all, they probably were dark and dingy but served 

 exceedingly well the purpose for which they were built. Under 

 such conditions luxury items were no doubt scarce and evidence for 

 them is largely wanting. Most of the articles obtained represent 

 commonplace objects which were used about the post or were for 

 trade purposes. By 1830 trade items had become more or less stabi- 

 lized in character and are not as sensitive indicators of the source of 

 origin or period involved as formerly. However, they still have some 

 significance. 



Evidences of food which remained in the fill of the fire basins and 

 numerous pits were the charred fragments of rabbit, bird, and an 

 occasional fishbone, also charred beans, corn, and pits of wild plmn 

 and chokecherries. Noted for their absence were the remains of 

 buffalo bones. Whether the occupants traded for Indian-made pem- 

 mican or just carried large pieces of buffalo meat back to the post 

 for immediate consmnption is a question archeology cannot answer. 



HISTORIC ARTIFACTS 



At the beginning of operations in 1950, Mr. Garth went over the 

 entire surface of the site, carefully picking up all artifacts which were 

 present. They included objects of iron, particles of glassware, frag- 

 ments of chinaware, stone artifacts, slivers of bone, a few Indian pot- 

 sherds, and the remains of an old leather shoe sole. Wliether this as- 

 semblage of artifacts can be assigned to periods of occupation repre- 

 sented by buried material is questionable. In the series, such objects 

 as axheads, iron-kettle fragments, butter-churn particles, etc., are not 

 of sufficiently distinctive character to be differentiated from similar ob- 

 jects in use at the present time. A few of the items may be old, but 

 most of these artifacts probably were never in the possession of the 

 occupants of the two levels uncovered. Only the artifacts that were 

 found in actual association with the two levels will be considered from 

 the standpoint of historical significance. 



TRADE BEADS 



Various types of glass trade beads were scattered on the floor, inside 

 various pits beneath the floor, or in the fill above the floor of the upper 

 historic levels. Some workers contend that beads are variable 

 enough in form and style to be identifiable according to period and 

 also reflect their place of manufacture, but those found here do not 

 help in that respect. None was ornate, such as the multicolored "Hud- 

 son Bay bead," sometimes called the "star bead," and most complex 

 forms consist only of faceted or simple bicolored types. 



