64 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1953 



long-looked- for chapel of Saxpilil and to identify the site of the vil- 

 lage of Coloc. On April 20, 1953, he returned to Washington. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year Dr. Philip Drucker, anthropolo- 

 gist, was in Washington continuing his studies of Meso-American 

 archeology. During the latter part of the summer he began prepara- 

 tions for an acculturational studj^ in southeast Alaska. On Septem- 

 ber 30 he left Washington for Juneau, Alaska, where he began his 

 investigation of the development and function of the highly interest- 

 ing intertribal organization of Alaskan Indians known as the Alaska 

 Native Brotherhood. In November he had the good fortune to be in- 

 vited to attend the annual convention of this organization at Hoonah, 

 Alaska, in the role of an observer. On the first of December he re- 

 turned to Washington and began preparation of a report on the study 

 just completed. 



Shortly after the first of the year Dr. Drucker went to Mexico, D. F., 

 where he conferred with officials of the Mexican Goverimient and ob- 

 tained the necessary permits to enable him to carry out a program 

 of archeological reconnaissance in the Olmec area of western Tabasco 

 and southern Veracruz. This research project was sponsored jointly 

 by the Smithsonian Institution and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for 

 Anthropological Research. At the end of January he departed for 

 the field where he continued his investigations until the middle of May. 

 He returned to Mexico City to make arrangements for the exportation 

 of the ceramic samples collected in the course of the survey, the study 

 of which should make it possible to identify as to culture affiliation 

 each of the 70-some-odd archeological sites discovered and tested in the 

 course of the trip. On June 10 he left for Washington, D. C. 



RIVER BASIN SURVEYS* 

 (Report prepared by Fkank H. H. Robebts, Jr.) 



As in previous years the investigations of the River Basin Surveys 

 were carried on in cooperation with the National Park Service and the 

 Bureau of Reclamation of the Department of the Interior, the Corps of 

 Engineers of the Department of the Army, and various State and local 

 institutions. During the fiscal year 1952-53 the work was financed 

 by a transfer of $122,700 from the National Park Service to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Included were $111,065 for investigations in the 

 Missouri Basin and $11,635 for all other areas where projects were 

 underway. An additional $50,294 in carryover of previous funds was 

 also available for the Missouri Basin, making a total of $161,359 for 

 that area. The over-all total for the fiscal year, including an unex- 

 pended balance of $3,390, was $172,994. That amount was approxi- 



1 See article by Dr. Roberts in 1951 Smitbgonian Report, pp. 351-383, for a 5-year sammary 

 of the River Basin Surveys work. 



