24 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1955 



edge of the origins of Virginia and its subsequent influence in the 

 settlement of the country west of the Allegheny Mountains. 



From August 15 to August 30, 1954, Dr. Clifford Evans, associate 

 curator, division of archeology, examined collections at Belem and 

 Rio de Janeiro and attended as official delegate the 31st International 

 Congress of Americanists at Sao Paulo, Brazil. New acquisitions in 

 the Museo National and the Museo de Anthropologia at Lima and 

 the Regional Museum at Cuzco, Peru, were examined during the first 

 week of September. Archeological investigations involving strati- 

 graphic technique and survey were undertaken from September 8 to 

 November 1, 1954, in the Guayas Basin, Guayaquil, Ecuador, to estab- 

 lish sufficient evidence to evaluate the previously collected materials 

 in the museum of Sr. Emilio Estrada. 



The study of early Virginia pottery in the collections of the National 

 Park Service at Jamestown and Williamsburg by C. M. Watkins, asso- 

 ciate curator, division of ethnology, was continued during March and 

 April 1955. Mr. Watkins also made two trips to New England and 

 New York to obtain materials and data for incorporation in the 

 Cultural History Hall. 



Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, curator, division of archeology, was detailed 

 to represent the U. S. National Museum in conferences with River 

 Basin Surveys persoimel at Lincoln, Nebr., relative to the division of 

 archeological specimens collected in the Missouri River Basin since 

 1946. Specimens from important archeological and historical sites 

 in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wyoming have been re- 

 ceived on the basis of the arrangements concluded at Lincoln, and 

 other needed material from Montana, Wyoming, and Kansas will be 

 forwarded for incorporation in the national collections. 



From September 20, 1954, to January 21, 1955, Dr. T. D. Stewart, 

 curator, division of physical anthropology, was detailed to the Army 

 Graves Registration Service to conduct research on skeletal aging of 

 American war casualties returned from North Korea at the 8204th 

 A. U., Jono Area, Kukura, Kyushu, Japan. Since in all instances the 

 age at death is known, it will be possible when analysis of these records 

 is completed to set up more accurate standards for determining the 

 age of unidentified skeletons. 



Dr. Ernest R. Sohns, associate curator, division of grasses, con- 

 ducted botanical fieldwork in the state of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 

 from August 29 to October 16, 1954. Grasses were collected in the 

 Sierra de Alvarez, Sierra de San Miguelito, Sierra de Cuates, Sierra 

 de Guadalcazar, Sierra Madre Oriental, Sierra de Catorce, and Sierra 

 de Mexiquitic, as well as at intermediate localities. At the request of 

 Dr. Juan Leonard, general secretary. El Centro de Investigaciones 

 Antropologicas de M6xico, Dr. Sohns was detailed to accompany 



