530 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1960 



in early localities in the Pinto Basin in the Mohave Desert in southern 

 California. Charcoal from the site has given a radiocarbon date of 

 9,380 ±500 years before tlie present. This information helps in de- 

 termining the approximate age of sites in Wyoming where similar 

 implements were found in association with bison bones, but wliich 

 contained no evidence bearing on their antiquity. 



Evidence for another hunting group was obtained from the Lind 

 Coulee in the State of Washington, The Lind Coulee is one of the 

 westernmost of the scabland channels eroded by waters from melting 

 Late Pleistocene glaciers. It is located near the southeastern end 

 of the O'Sullivan Reservoir, and evidence of human occupation was 

 found along its banks during the preliminai-y surveys of the reservoir 

 area. Inasmuch as the Lind Coulee is to serve as a channel for the 

 runoff water from the irrigation project connected with the O'Sullivan 

 Reservoir, salvage operations appeared to be warranted at that loca- 

 tion. The first digging done there was by a party from the State 

 College of Washington in cooperation with the University of Wash- 

 ington and the River Basin Surveys. Subsequent excavation was by 

 the State College of Washington under a cooperative agreement with 

 the National Park Service. The materials found indicated that the 

 people were dependent in the main on hunting, with bison as the pri- 

 mary source of food. In addition, however, ducks, geese, muskrat, 

 and beaver were also killed. There was no evidence whatsoever of the 

 use of fish, although the location of the site on what had been the shore 

 of a lake or stream suggests that some fish may have been taken. The 

 culture represented is not particularly exceptional in its character- 

 istics and probably is attributable to a rather widespread group in that 

 general area. Radiocarbon dates obtained from charcoal from the 

 occupation level are 9,400±940 and 8,518 ±460 with a weighted 

 average of 8,700 ±400 years before the present. 



LATER CAMPSITES 



The remams of a number of simple campsites of much later date 

 were investigated in several reservoir areas. The information ob- 

 tained from them was not as complete as might be desired but it does 

 tell something of the habits and way of life of the people who formerly 

 tarried there. Because such places were occupied only for short pe- 

 riods, or at brief recurring intervals by limiting parties, the amount 

 of material left is small in comparison with that at locations where 

 more permanent villages were erected. At campsites there are no 

 traces of dwellings or habitations. Highly perishable brush struc- 

 tures or skin tents may have served as temporary shelters. At some 

 locations there are circles of stones, usually called tipi rings, that are 

 thought by many to have been used to anchor the bottoms of tents. 



