SECRETARY'S REPORT 61 



dozing. The spud is commonly found in Mississippian mound sites 

 westward to the Mississippi River. 



A 5-x-lO-foot test below the actual submound level revealed wall 

 trenches of a rectangular open-cornered building, oriented NE.-SW., 

 and in one of the series of 10-x-lO-foot trenches, 75 feet southeast of 

 the main mound, a straight section of wall trench was found. These 

 features could not be examined further in the time available. Another 

 test 400 feet northwest of the mound center and about 100 feet back 

 from the terrace edge, also uncovered a house- wall trench at depths 

 of 1.5 to 2.0 feet. Using a tractor, about a thousand square feet were 

 stripped, tracing out the wall lines, but time did not permit complete 

 study of the patterns. Rectangular, open-cornered houses, closely 

 spaced but apparently not adjoining, were arranged in rows running 

 NE.-SW. Hearths appeared to be in the forecourt to the southeast, 

 rather than within the houses. No clearly defined occupation floor 

 could be identified, hence the associations are not certain. Most of 

 the pottery from that part of the site seems earlier than the houses, 

 which presumably slightly antedate the mound, but continue into the 

 mound period, since there is no evidence of a later house type. House 

 evidence is so difficult to obtain along the Chattahoochee River, how- 

 ever, that negative evidence cannot be relied upon, and the known 

 house areas at this site should be excavated further to get as complete 

 house plan evidence as possible. 



During the field season parties from the University of Alabama and 

 the University of Georgia, under agreements with the National Park 

 Service, also worked at sites in the Walter F. George Reservoir area. 



Missouri River Basin — For the fifteenth consecutive year the Mis- 

 souri Basin Project continued to operate from the field headquarters 

 and laboratory in Lincoln, Nebr. Dr. Robert L. Stephenson served 

 as chief of the project throughout the year. Activities included sur- 

 veys, excavations, analysis of materials, and reporting on results. 

 During the summer months the work was mamly concerned with 

 excavations. Analyses and preparation of reports received the major 

 attention throughout the other months of the year. The special 

 chronology program begun in January 1958 continued to receive 

 attention. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year the permanent staff, in addition 

 to the chief, consisted of 3 archeologists, 1 administrative assistant, 1 

 clerk-stenographer, 1 illustrator, 1 file clerk on the permanent staff, 

 and 12 crewmen on the temporary staff. One paleontologist, on loan 

 from the National Park Service, was added to the temporary staff 

 for a month for the purpose of analyzing nonhuman bone material 

 from the sites excavated over the past three seasons. In Jime, 2 

 assistant field archeologists, 1 cook, and 25 field crewmen were added 

 to the temporary staff. 



