62 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 60 



direction of Dr. Charles H. McNutt. This party, like that of Caldwell 

 in the Big Bend Reservoir, spent the season making a series of small- 

 scale test excavations in a large number of sites along a restricted 

 area of the IVIissouri River. The crew was supplemented in mid- 

 season by 5 additional crewmen, making a total party of 12. Sample 

 excavations were conducted at 18 of the 22 previously recorded sites 

 in the Little Bend. The remaining four sites are of sufficient eleva- 

 tion to remain above water and also appear to be of minor significance. 

 In addition, 11 new sites were located and recorded but only one was 

 of sufficient value to warrant testing and mapping. 



The uniformity of the cultural materials from the Little Bend is 

 rather remarkable. Only two sites (39SL12 and 39SL13) provided 

 any evidence of long-rectangular house villages, and that is only in 

 the form of Thomas Riggs types of pottery. All the other sites had 

 been small to large villages of circular earth lodges providing sherds 

 of onl}^ two major classes of pottery, Russell Ware and Stanley Ware. 

 House depressions in all sites are uniformly circular and are usually 

 either ringed, shallow depressions, or unringed deep depressions. 

 Russell Ware pottery occurs characteristically with the former and 

 Stanley Ware pottery with the latter. The consistency of this asso- 

 ciation is striking. Villages with ringed house depressions and Rus- 

 sell Ware pottery were usually compact and consisted of 1 large 

 (presumably ceremonial) house and from 5 to 10 small (presumably 

 domiciliary) houses. No fortifications were found in association with 

 any of these villages. Villages with unringed, deep house depressions 

 and Stanley Ware pottery were either compact or diffuse and may or 

 may not have had a particularly large (ceremonial) house and a forti- 

 fication ditch. Some historic material was found in three of the 

 four sites of this type examined. The individual sites are summarized 

 briefly. 



Site 39SL12 consists of the remains of a large ceremonial house 

 and at least seven smaller houses located on a low, bench promontory. 

 Three midden heaps and three cache pits were tested and the site was 

 mapped. Xo defensive ditch could be found. Pottery consisted of 

 both Russell Vrare and Thomas Riggs Ware. Site 39SL13 is likewise 

 situated on a low bench promontory and consists of some 40 house 

 depressions, including 2 large ceremonial houses but no defensive 

 ditch was located. There, 3 house depressions were tested, and 1 

 midden heap, 10 cache pits, 2 fireplaces, and 8 other test pits excavated, 

 and the site was mapped. Pottery consisted of Stanley Ware, Russell 

 Ware, and Thomas Riggs Ware, and a few objects of historic origin 

 were found. They are the only two sites in the Little Bend area that 

 suggest occupation during the long, rectangular-house period. 



Site 39SL19, located on the floodplain, was a compact village with 

 deep depressions surrounded by a semicircular fortification ditch. 



