60 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1941 



have been an old, filled-in lake bed. Heavy erosion in recent years 

 started a series of ravines and gullies and exposed extensive deposits 

 of bones. Stone implements found near some of these outcroppings 

 indicate the possibility that many of the creatures were killed by 

 aboriginal hunters and that an association of man-made objects and 

 bones from extinct species of animals can be established. Bison, 

 camel, and mammoth bones, as well as those from smaller and as yet 

 unidentified mammals, occur in the site. Material in the fill in the 

 old lake bed probably can be correlated with other geologic phenomena 

 of established age. Hence, the determination of contemporaneity be- 

 tween the artifacts, animal remains, and lake deposits would constitute 

 an important addition to the evidence on early occupation in the New 

 World. There is also a possibility that the site may contribute infor- 

 mation on the subject of relationships between some of the different 

 older cultural remains. At the close of the fiscal year Dr. Roberts and 

 his party were well started on the problem of the San Jon site. 



The beginning of the fiscal year found Dr. Julian H. Steward, 

 anthropoligist, in British Columbia completing researches on abo- 

 riginal Carrier Indian ethnography and on ecological aspects of 

 recent changes in Carrier socio-economic culture at Fort St. James and 

 neighboring villages. While here a collection was made of more than 

 100 Carrier specimens of material culture, and of more than 50 ethno- 

 botanical specimens. At this time several pit-lodge sites were ex- 

 amined. From here Dr. Steward proceeded to Alaska, and then by 

 plane from Ketchikan to an island off the coast where he investigated 

 a burial site reported by Commander F. A. Zeusler, of the Coast Guard, 

 and Ranger Lloyd Bransford, of the United States Forest Service. 

 Accompanied by the latter, he procured specimens of several skeletons, 

 fragments of carved burial boxes and other materials, and a mummified 

 body in excellent preservation. The body was dressed in buckskin, 

 wrapped in a cedar mat, and deposited in a cedar box. All specimens 

 were brought back by plane to Ketchikan and shipped to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. From Alaska Dr. Steward went to Berkeley, 

 Calif., to hold consultations on the Handbook of South American In- 

 dians, which is being prepared for the Smithsonian Institution. 

 From there he proceeded to Albuquerque and Chaco Canyon, N. Mex., 

 for further consultations and to attend the Coronado Quatrocenten- 

 nial and the Chaco conference, finally arriving in Washington late in 

 August. 



The remainder of the year was devoted mainly to editorial and or- 

 ganizational work on the Handbook of South American Indians, and 

 work on the project was actually initiated, $6,000 having been made 

 available for thjs purpose by special appropriation for cooperation 

 with the American republics through the Department of State's Inter- 



