SECRETARY'S REPORT 73 



fortified village near the Oalie dam site on July 1 and continued at 

 that location until October, when it was shifted to another fortified 

 village a short distance farther downstream. At the first location, 

 called the Dodd site, the remains of 21 earth lodges, 27 cache pits, 

 and 16 miscellaneous features were uncovered. In addition, 8 test 

 trenches and 27 test pits were dug. The Dodd site is of particular in- 

 terest because of the fact that three types of houses were found there, 

 and there was definite stratigraphic evidence for a sequence of the 

 various forms. The latest structures at the location had been circular 

 earth lodges, while the earlier ones were rectangular. There appar- 

 ently were two types of rectangular earth lodge, the oldest being 

 smaller and with a somewhat different pole arrangement than the later 

 ones. Although it has not been established beyond question, it appears 

 that the circular houses were those built by the Arikara, while the 

 rectangular ones are attributable to the Mandan. Several thousand 

 specimens, consisting of potsherds, stone, bone, shell, and metal arti- 

 facts, were found during the digging, and the analysis of that mate- 

 rial should be a definite contribution to the archeology of the area. 

 At the second location, known as the Phillips Kanch site, 5 earth lodges 

 and 46 cache pits had been cleared and one test trench dug across the 

 fortification ditch when weather conditions brought the activities to 

 a close on November 26. The structures at the Phillips Ranch site 

 were circular and appear to correlate with those of the final period 

 at the Dodd site. Mr. Lehmer returned to the Phillips Ranch site on 

 June 20 and resumed his excavation program. It was still under way 

 at the close of the fiscal year. During the short period involved one 

 house was completely cleared and another started. The presence of 

 a palisade inside the fortification ditch surrounding the site was es- 

 tablished, and the overburden from the northeast quadrant of the 

 area was stripped away, revealing a number of features lying outside 

 the houses. 



Additional work in the Oahe area got under way in June when a 

 party under the direction of Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, who was detailed to 

 the River Basin Surveys from the U. S. National Museum, began ex- 

 cavations at the Cheyenne River village site, about 45 miles north of 

 the Dodd site. The Cheyenne River village is one of the largest and 

 best preserved of the fortified sites along the Missouri River, although 

 a portion of it has been carried away by the encroaching stream. It 

 apparently was occupied for a considerable period and probably con- 

 tains several components. By the end of the fiscal year one earth lodge 

 had been uncovered, the work on a second was nearly completed, and 

 digging had started on a third. One cache pit had been cleaned and 

 another located. Two test trenches excavated across the moat had 

 shown that the original bottom was about 6 feet below the present 

 surface. The artifact yield from the investigations was proving 



