68 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1961 



State Historical Society. Dr. Wesley K. Hurt had a crew at work 

 by boat, testing several sites being exposed by wave action along the 

 shores of Lewis and Clark Lake (Gavins Point) and Fort Randall 

 Reservoirs, for the University of South Dakota. Roger T. Grange had 

 a crew from the Nebraska State Historical Society at work in the 

 Red Willow Reservoir area in Frontier County, southwestern Ne- 

 braska, excavating two sites near the dam construction area. All 

 the parties mentioned above were operating under agreements with 

 the National Park Service and were cooperating with the Smitlisonian 

 Institution in the research program. 



During the time that the archeologists were not in the field they 

 were engaged in the analysis of their materials and in the laboratory 

 and library research. They also prepared manuscripts of teclinical 

 scientific reports and wrote articles and papers of a more popular 

 nature. 



The Missouri Basin Chronology Program, begun by the staff arche- 

 ologists of the Missouri Basin Project in January 1958, continued to 

 operate and made considerable progress throughout the year. Con- 

 tinued cooperation and participation by more than 30 individuals 

 representing 30 research institutions throughout the Plains area has 

 been rewarding. This year major emphasis was placed upon the 

 dendrochronological section of the program. Harry E. Weakly of 

 the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dr. Warren W. Caldwell of the 

 Missouri Basin Project, and Ward Weakly of the University of Ne- 

 braska concentrated the tree-ring studies on a limited area along the 

 Missouri River between Fort Thompson and the Cheyenne River in 

 South Dakota. This takes in all the Big Bend Reservoir area and the 

 lower portions of the Oahe Reservoir. A master chart has been 

 constructed for this area using oak, ash, and cedar, that extends from 

 the present back to A.D. 1302. Archeological wood, mainly cedar 

 house posts, from a number of sites has been dated by the master 

 chart. The dates look good, and in general correlate well with other 

 chronological data, but until further checks have been made, release 

 of these dates would be premature. In addition to the master chart, 

 a "floating" sequence of nearly 300 years has been constructed, based 

 upon timbers from houses of the Over Focus and the Thomas Riggs 

 Focus. There also appears to be a high degree of correlation between 

 the South Dakota master chart and the several charts that have been 

 previously developed for areas of Nebraska. 



The radioactive carbon- 14 section of the program has continued 

 to develop, and in conjunction with the University of Michigan Memo- 

 rial Phoenix Laboratory, under the direction of Prof. H. R, Crane, 

 a series of four new dates has been released. Sam'ple M-1079a^ char- 

 coal from a house post of the late component at the Crow Creek site 

 (39BF11) in the Fort Randall Reservoir, S. Dak., excavated by 



