ch lay a few inches, or perhaps only an inch,
away. The Nebraska men say this was not the case.

3. There may have been an excavation or pit similar to that in which
the Hurons buried their dead. But as no such burial pits have been
discovered in this part of the country, this supposition must be
excluded.

A corollary to the last is that a deep but small pit similar to the
so-called "caches" in the lodge sites may have been dug here and the
bones thrown in. There is no indication whatever of a lodge site or
any other form of habitation at this point, but I have found such pits
in the vicinity of Indian houses, though not just on their site. The
deepest one I have ever found was 101/2 feet and less than 6 feet in
diameter. There would be no difficulty in digging into this loose
material as far as an excavator cared to go, until he had reached a
depth at which he could no longer get the loosened earth to the
surface of the ground. As mentioned above, a pit south of Omaha had a
depth of 13 feet, or only 1 foot less than is claimed for this--or
rather for the greatest depth at which it is claimed fragments of bone
were found.

The objection made to this theory is that the earth thrown out of the
hole was unmixed, presenting throughout the appearance and consistency
of loess as it occurs where exposed in ravines or on slopes in the
vicinity. It is contended that if any previous excavation had been
made here and filled up afterwards the mixed earth would be easily
distinguished from that which was not removed, and that the line of
demarcation would be easily discernible.

As a rule, this is true; but when dry loose earth of homogeneous
consistency is thrown out of a pit and then thrown in again without
becoming mixed with any other it is sometimes impossible to
distinguish it at a later excavation. This is especially true of earth
free from vegetable matter, as ordinary sand; or composed largely of
vegetable mold, as the soil in overflow lands which have built up
mainly from floods carrying uniform soil sediment. The line of
demarcation between the dug and the undug earth in such conditions may
become indistinguishable except when a vertical face is made which
shall show a clear section of both in contact.

It is now too late to learn anything about the matter from the site
itself. So many persons have been digging that it would be impossible to
know when the limit is reached between the original excavation--assuming