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encounters many clusters of stone circles formed of small boulders placed at close intervals, resulting in rings of about seven to thirty or more feet in diameter. In a number of cases, these circles will be deeply embedded in the sod, suggesting that considerable time may have elapsed since they were first laid down. Local residents long ago adopted the name "tipi rings" for these phenomena. However, scrutiny of the writings of contemporary archeologists reveals confusion and uncertainty about the function of "tipi rings." Mulloy, for example, labels them "manifestations of unknown relationships" (1952:137); Wormington, as reported by Krieger (1956:450), considers them as having "ceremonial significance," and Wedel (1953:179) agrees with these views. Nevertheless, sufficient evidence does exist, it is here maintained, to demonstrate that these stone rings, concentrated in the Northern Plains, were actually what their popular name implies; rings of stones employed by Indians to anchor the peripheries of their skin lodges. Because my fieldwork has been limited to north-central Montana and adjacent Alberta, the data adduced for this belief come principally from that area; but the results probably apply also to similar rings in neighboring regions, particularly the Dakotas and Wyoming. Although tipi rings are classed as archeological remains, both historical and ethnological materials relate to the question of their use, and indeed prove more fruitful than excavation in clarifying the function of the rings. Consequently, what might be termed the "direct ethnological" approach has been utilized in this study. Of course, the assumption underlying this approach is that the rings are not of great antiquity in the Northern Plains;' not only the position of the circles on or near the ground surface, but the historical and ethnological data as well corroborate and justify it. Beginning with Maximilian, many explorers in the region noted the use of stones to weight the lodge covers, with heavy sods used as an alternative where rocks are not abundant. The Prince wrote of the Blackfoot camp at Fort Mc