42 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 3 2 



In addition 15 burials belonging to the habitation group were found. 

 One of the pit structures uncovered had been destroyed by fire, and 

 the charred timbers furnished one of the earliest building dates thus 

 far obtained in the Southwest, namely, 797 A. D. 



On July 10, 1931, Dr. W. D. Strong entered upon his duties as 

 ethnologist in the bureau. Early in August he left for a reconnais- 

 sance trip through central and western Nebraska, central South 

 Dakota, and western North Dakota. Evidence of a prehistoric cul- 

 ture believed to pertain to the early Pawnee was followed up the 

 Republican Eiver and west as far as Scottsbluff. Here a very im- 

 portant stratified site on Signal Butte was investigated, and after 

 arranging for complete excavation the next summer, Doctor Strong 

 continued the survey trip up the Missouri River. Many large pre- 

 historic villages of the sedentary tribes in this region were visited 

 and their locations and characteristics noted for future investigation. 

 The survey ended with a visit to the living Arikara Indians on the 

 Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Many good informants 

 were visited and preliminary ethnological work on the life and cus- 

 toms of this very imjDortant agricultural people was commenced. 

 During the autumn and winter of 1931-32 the text and illustrations 

 of a manuscript entitled ''An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology " 

 were prepared. 



On May 25, 1932, Doctor Strong left for Lincoln, Nebr., and on 

 June 15 excavations were commenced in the stratified deposits on the 

 top of Signal Butte. Large collections of specimens from all three 

 levels were secured, especially from the lowest level of occupation, 

 which was very thick and gave evidence of great antiquity. Marked 

 cultural differences between the three levels were apparent during the 

 excavation work. Burials, both complete and partial, were found in 

 the upper level, but no burials were encountered in the lowest level, 

 though fragments of human bone were found. It is already certain 

 that the unusual case of stratigraphy present on the summit of Signal 

 Butte will, when the material has been studied in detail, yield clear 

 evidence of an extensive sequence of cultural and artifact types for 

 the high plains region of central North America. 



J. N. B. Hewitt, ethnologist, completed the revision and the edit- 

 ing of the manuscript journal of the Swiss artist, Rudolph Fried- 

 erich Kurz, for publication by the bureau. He also made an inten- 

 sive study of the internal organic structure of the Iroquois and the 

 Huron (Wj^andot) clan, which was a most important unit of social 

 and political organization. This investigation revealed some hith- 

 erto unnoted and disregarded organic features of clan structure. 

 The results of this study were submitted for publication. In addition 

 he continued his work of coordinating the variant versions of tra- 

 ditional and ceremonial matters recorded in native text in the 



