SECRETARY'S REPORT 57 



that extended outward from the fortified area and curved around to 

 form a small loop bastion about 8 feet in diameter and then recurve 

 back to join the regular line of the palisdae posts. Thus the entrance 

 consisted of two small, loop bastions with a narrow passageway be- 

 tween them that ran some 10 feet back into the fortified area. Opposite 

 the narrow passageway was a ramp across the fortification ditch. 

 One entrance was to the north, the other to the south. 



Outside the fortified area the two houses that were partially ex- 

 cavated appeared of the same structural type and artifact content as 

 tliose that were within the fort. The architecture was of the four 

 center post pattern with widely spaced wall posts, leaner posts, and 

 short entrances, forming a circular earthlodge of some 28 to 45 feet 

 in diameter. Artifacts from the site include abundant pottery, bone, 

 stone, and shell objects. The pottery is unusually homogeneous and 

 well within the earliest of the La Roche tradition. Elaborate or 

 spectacular objects were almost entirely lacking, although a few 

 shell ornaments and catlinite pipes were recovered. 



One week was spent in August by this party in excavating a portion 

 of tlie Blue Blanket Island site (39VVVV9), located on an island in 

 the Missouri River just north of the Potts Village site. This was a 

 late village of circular earthlodges encircled by a wide, shallow forti- 

 fication ditch and palisade. The palisade formed a nearly circular 

 pattern enclosing less than 20 houses with no evidence of houses out- 

 side it. The ditch was but 2 or 3 feet deep and 20 to 25 feet wide. 

 Half of one house was excavated, the ditch and palisade were sampled 

 in several places, and a dozen random test squares were dug. 



Stockade posts as well as outer wall posts of the house were split 

 timbers set close together with the bark side in. Burning caused good 

 preservation of the structural features. Inside the row of split wall 

 timbers of the house were large, whole support posts spaced every 

 6 or 7 feet to form main roof and wall supports. The four main center 

 posts were large, whole posts. The entrance was short but unusually 

 well made. Pottery and other artifacts were not abundant but met.al 

 objects were present. The village apparently is one of those viewed 

 by Lewis and Clark as a recent ruin in 1804, and probably dates from 

 the last quarter of the 18th century until about 1802 or 1803. Access 

 to the site each day was by motorboat from the right bank of the 

 river near the Potts Village site. 



The fourth Smithsonian field party at work during the early part 

 of the fiscal year consisted of a crew of four men directed by Dr. 

 William M. Bass. Tliey worked from August 7 to 18 and excavated 

 40 burials from the Sully site (39SL4), some 19 miles northwest of 

 Pierre, S. Dak., on the left bank of the Missouri River. Dr. Bass 

 spent two previous seasons on burial excavations at that site and has 



