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NUMBER 30
hunting and fishing camps is from A.D. 810±100
to 1495±90. Further, the lodge floor area of the
six Glen Elder houses excavated by Krause (Lippincott,
1976:118a) averages 732 square feet (68
m^) and ranges from 482 to 909 square feet (45
to 84 m^), slightly more than twice the maximum
size cited by Krause for isolated households (i.e.,
144 to 225 square feet, or 13 to 21 m^) in floor
area. The increased size brings the lodges more in
line with the range of Central Plains lodges
known from other areas, and corresponds to
Wedel's (1970:18) comment regarding the exceptionally
small lodges described by Krause in his
model: "I have the impression that houses as
small as those of the second Solomon River settlement
type are not characteristic of the Nebraska
Upper Republican communities as these
are now known where large scale excavations
have been carried out." As a result of his research,
Lippincott (1978:87) concluded:
A realistic interpretation of both radiocarbon and seriation
information would be to split the occupation of the Solomon
River locality into a period of relatively intense occupation
from A.D. 800-850 through A.D. 1200-1250 and a period of
drastic reduction of occupation density after 1200-1250.
Systematic analysis of the Glen Elder materials
by Lippincott clearly demonstrates that Krause's
model was only loosely tied to the available data
and that alternative interpretations are equally
viable. Nevertheless, several of the hypotheses
proposed by Krause and incorporated into subsequent
models provide the basis for additional
research. All of the examined models assume
continuous occupation of a locality for a substantial
time period, usually 400 years (A.D. 900-
1300). This span of occupation is established from
a few radiocarbon dates. A shift in occupation
from large lodges in hamlets to small isolated
lodges or some variation is also a common theme
of the models. Generally, all of the proposed
models have been handicapped by the paucity of
available radiocarbon dates from the localities.
For example, when Roper (1976) prepared her
radiocarbon study for the Central Plains, only 33
dates were available for the entire Nebraska
phase.
Forty-one radiocarbon dates have been ob­
185
tained for the Glenwood locality, and these dates
provide the basis for several observations regarding
radiocarbon samples, time, span of occupation,
and the relationships of large and small
lodges in Glenwood.
The Glenwood Temporal Sequence
In developing their model of the Glenwood
settlement sequence, Anderson and Zimmerman
(1976) estimated a span of occupation based upon
10 radiocarbon dates ranging from A.D. 430±100
to 1280±70. Six of the samples were paired and
represented three lodges. Gross intralodge differences
between radiocarbon dates seriously compromised
the reliability of these paired samples
as accurate temporal indicators. For example, two
dates from 13ML119, a Pony Creek lodge, were
both early (A.D. 885±105 and 920±130) and consistent.
But the dates from 13ML121, a Keg Creek
house, were A.D. 870±95 and 1260±100, a difference
of 390 years, and two samples from
13ML124 were dated A.D. 430± 100 and 1215±95.
The inability to obtain reasonable sample agreement
within a lodge seriously compromised any
estimate of span of occupation, and established a
clear need for carefully controlled, multiple-lodge
samples from the locality.
As a direct result of the Highway-34 excavations
and the continuing research of the author,
31 additional radiocarbon dates were obtained
from the Glenwood locality. An initial requirement
of three radiocarbon dates per lodge was
established. Samples were selected from wall
posts, and the charcoal was identified to genus or
species by Dr. Dwight Bensend, Iowa State University.
Every attempt was made to control possible
sources of error, from the field collecting
stage through laboratory processing. The first set
of three dates from lodge 13ML130 was processed
commercially and sample agreement was encouraging.
The remainder of the samples was processed
at the Center for Climatic Research, University
of Wisconsin, Madison.
The initial selection of charcoal from the bottom
of lodge wall posts served three purposes.
First, the relatively small diameter of the post