62 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1962 



The Missouri Basin Chronology Program by the end of the year had 

 been in operation Sy^ years, having been begun by archeologists of the 

 Missouri Basin Project in January 1958, Cooperation and continued 

 participation by most of the archeologists in the Plains area have been 

 most encouraging. Especial emphasis last year was on the dendro- 

 chronological section of the program, particularly the master chart 

 for the Fort Thompson-to-Cheyenne Kiver area. During the fiscal 

 year many wood samples from prehistoric houses were matched 

 to this chart and considerable effort was devoted to the refinement of 

 the laboratory techniques of tree-ring study being used in the Lincoln 

 office. To this end additional equipment was purchased, such as mi- 

 croscopes, a De Rouen Dendrochronograph, a power sander, and an 

 increment borer. Also, consultations and advice were sought from 

 the staff of the laboratory of tree-ring studies at the University of 

 Arizona, and much assistance was obtained from these discussions. 



The carbon- 14 section of the Chronology Program received major 

 attention throughout the year. Seven additional dates were obtained 

 from charcoal samples submitted to the University of Michigan 

 Memorial Phoenix Laboratory. In addition to this source of C-14 

 dates, an agreement was entered into between the Chronology Program 

 and Isotopes Incorporated, of West wood, N.J., under the direction of 

 Milton Trautman, to date a series of charcoal specimens. The agree- 

 ment with Isotopes Incorporated has resulted in 19 dates so far de- 

 rived from the Missouri Basin Chronology Program. 



The laboratory and office staff spent its full effort during the year 

 in processmg specimen materials for study, photographing and illus- 

 trating specimens, preparing specimen records, and typing, filing, and 

 illustrating record and manuscript materials. The accomplisliments 

 of the laboratory and office staff are listed in tables 1 and 2. 



Dr. Robert L. Stephenson, chief, when not in charge of field parties, 

 devoted a large part of his time to management of the over-all Mis- 

 souri Basin Project. His individual archeological research and re- 

 port writing were minimal during the year, but he made some further 

 progress on the monograph reporting the "Archeological Investiga- 

 tions in the "Wliitney Reservoir, Texas" and on the analyses of speci- 

 mens from the Sully site (39SL4) in the Oahe Reservoir. Through- 

 out the year he continued to serve as chainnan of the Missouri Basin 

 Chronology Program, as assistant editor of "Notes and News in the 

 Plains Area" for American Antiquity, and as associate editor of the 

 Plains Anthropologist. At the 19th Plains Conference for Arche- 

 ology, held in Lawton, Okla., on Thanksgiving weekend, he served as 

 chairman of the session on "Salvage Archeology in the Plains" and 

 presented a paper on "Three Smithsonian Salvage Sites" and also 

 one on "Historic Montana Burials." 



Dr. Stephenson attended the meeting of the "Committee for the 



