Description
The site is located on a terrace on the south side of the Republican River, near the village of Guide Rock. At the north edge of the terrace is a near-vertical bank 25–30 feet (8–9 meters) high; from the base of the bank, the floodplain of the river extends about one-fourth mile (about one-half kilometer) to the present channel. The remains of over 100 earth lodges lie on the terrace between the bank and the hills to the south, which rise 125 feet (38 m) above the village. On the hills are five cemeteries. The village complex also includes a council site and two open courts where a hoop game was played.
The village extended for at least 1,200 feet (370 m) from east to west. On the east and west sides were dry creeks that ran northward into the Republican. At the time of the village's occupation, springs in the western creek flowed year-round; these would have provided a more convenient source of water than the river, since access to the latter was hampered by the steep bank. At some time after the land came under cultivation in the 1870s, the springs in the hills ceased to flow.
Not far downstream from the site is a hill known to the Pawnees as Pa-hur, or "hill that points the way". In the traditional Pawnee religion, this was one of five lodges of the nahurac, spirit animals with supernatural healing powers.
Read more about this topic: Pike-Pawnee Village Site
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