82 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



It could not be determined whether there was any superimposition of 

 the structures. Stratigraphically, and by the artifact inventory, the 

 housepits appear to be contemporaneous. In both, the house fill is not 

 more than 31/^ feet in depth. Little soil change was fomid in the fill, 

 which was a dark loam near the top but became sandier with depth. 

 Above the sterile soil, yelloAv sand and gravel, an ash layer is found 

 throughout the limits of the housepits. Stratigraphically, there 

 appears to be only one cultural occupation. 



Large quantities of tools, flakes, and bones were recovered, which 

 indicate both intensive occupation and use of the area for hunting 

 purposes. Preliminary examination of tlie artifacts suggests that 

 occupation was late in prehistoric time, possibly early historic, and 

 similarities can be seen with the Camas Prairie Phase reported at the 

 Weis Rockshelter on Camas Prairie (B. Robert Butler, Contributions 

 to the Prehistory of the Columbia Plateau, Occasional Papers No. 9 

 of the Idaho College Museum) . 



Missouri Basin. — At the beginning of fiscal year 194:7 the Missouri 

 Basin Project of the River Basin Surveys began its operations from 

 the field headquarters and laboratory in Lincoln, Nebr. The Project 

 has carried on its activities for 17 consecutive years from that location. 

 The office and laboratory were at first housed with the Laboratory of 

 Anthropology in the basement of the Social Sciences Building. They 

 were then moved to a basement hallway of the University of Nebraska 

 Library. Shortly thereafter much more space was made available in 

 the basement of the just-completed Burnett Hall on the University 

 campus, and the Laboratory of Anthropology and the project again 

 joined forces. By 1950, both the project and the Laboratory of An- 

 thropology had outgrown this space, and the Missouri Basin Project 

 rented a building at 1517 O Street. The project laboratory was 

 transferred to the new location, but offices were maintained in Burnett 

 Hall. In 1953 the offices were moved to O Street and the entire project 

 operated from that location for the following 10 years. During the 

 present fiscal year expansion of the project and deterioration of the 

 upper floors of the building at 1517 O Street made new quarters an 

 absolute necessity. On May 1, 1963, the Missouri Basin Project rented 

 a one-story building at 1835 P Street in Lincoln and moved to that 

 location. It is a relatively new, fireproof building of 14,000 square 

 feet, with all laboratory, storage, and office facilities on one floor. 



Activities during the current fiscal year, as in past years, included 

 surveys, excavations, analyses of materials, and reporting of results 

 of the salvage of archeological remains being destroyed by dam and 

 reservoir construction within the Missouri Basin. Dr. Robert L. 

 Stephenson served as chief of the project, except for approximately 

 3 months when he was on leave and Dr. Warren W. Caldwell func- 



