66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 
one-eighth inch in thickness, made from calcined bones. 
The bottom and sides of the pit were then probably covered 
with furs, now indicated by a thin layer of animal matter on 
the white coating. Bones representing about 50 human 
beings had been laid on the floor of this fur-lined pit. 
Traces of the thin fur layer were also found on top of this 
solid mass of human bones. Over this fur covering a layer 
of bark was placed, and upon this bark earth had been 
spread to a depth of from 3 to 6 inches. The earth was then 
smoothed and pressed down, and on this surface a white 
coating, similar to that on the bottom and sides, had been 
spread. Only one small, cylindrical copper bead was found 
with all this mass of bones, and no object of white man’s 
manufacture was found. There is evidence that this portion 
of the site was occupied by the Omahas somewhere between 
1725 and 1775. 
While the Omahas and their kindred, the Poncas, lived to- 
gether at the Split Rock site some of the most important 
events in their history took place. The united Omahas and 
Poncas and their old enemies, the Cheyennes and Arikaras, 
here made a peace which was concluded with great ceremony. 
At the urgent request of the Arikara the sacred chant and 
dance of the calumet was used to cement this union. 
In Vernon and Bates Counties, western Missouri, near the 
junction of the Osage and Marmiton Rivers, Mr. Myer 
found several sites known to have been occupied by the 
Osage Indians in early historic times, shortly after they had 
come in contact with the whites. 
The largest Osage village in Vernon County was situated 
at Old Town, on Old Town Creek, about 314 miles south of 
Pikes village of the Grand Osage. ‘This site covers about 40 
acres and is the best known of any of the Osage sites. It 
has yielded a large amount of iron axes, gun barrels, gun- 
locks, fragments of brass kettles, glass beads, and other 
articles of early white manufacture, as well as objects of 
purely aboriginal origin. 
The most picturesque Indian site in this Osage region is 
Halleys Bluff, on the Osage River, about 114 miles down- 
stream from where the Marmiton and Marais des Cygnes 
