and around the lodge sites, except for the
markings on some of the pottery, are in no wise different from those
picked up on the sites of villages which were occupied when Lewis and
Clark came through here.

2. Fairly solid bones of animals, and occasionally of humans, are
found in the bottoms of the lodge sites, even where these are damp
most of the year. In the pits, where such remains are preserved by
ashes, this would not mean much; but where they are found in clayey
earth it is evident that "thousands of years" is a meaningless term to
apply to them.

3. Persons who claim these "thousands of years" for pretty much
everything they find in the ground must explain why it is that while
the bones and implements of these assumed "ancients" are found in such
quantities and in such good preservation, those of later Indians
should have entirely disappeared.

The only tenable theory of age is the amount of accumulation in the
depressions of the lodge sites. Above the clay which formed the roof,
and is next to the floor now, is a depth of material sometimes (it is
said) as much as 20 or even 22 inches of mingled silt, decayed
vegetation, and soil from the surrounding wall. It is used as an
argument of age that as these sites are on hilltops where there can be
no inwash, this depth must indicate a very remote period for their
construction. But a large amount of the earth thrown out into the
surrounding ring or wall will find its way back into the depression.
The water will stand in them a good part of the year, and the soil
remain damp even in prolonged drought; vegetation is thus more
luxuriant than on the outside, and its decay will fill up rather
rapidly. In addition, much sand blows from the prairies as well as
from the bottom lands, and whatever finds its way into the pit will
stay there; it will not blow away again as it would in open ground.
The weeds, also, will catch and retain much of this dust which would
pass over a dry surface. Consequently the allowance of an inch in a
century, which is the most that advocates of great age will allow for
accumulation, is much too small.

The topography of the region was essentially the same when these
remains were constructed as it is now. The hills and valleys were as
they now exist; the erosion has been very slight as compared with what
has taken place since the loess was brought above the water, to which
it owes its origin. This statement is fully proven by the position o