64 ANNUAL, REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1924 



in the field. He has kept en rapport with the work of all archeo- 

 logical expeditions in the Southwest in order to be able to advise 

 you in regard to your recommendations for archeological work on 

 the public domain. The number of expeditions in the Southwest 

 has tripled or quadrupled in the last decade. 



The field work engaged in by the chief during the past year was 

 archeological in nature, in cooperation with Mr. E. M. Elliott and 

 his associates, of St. Petersburg, Fla. There are few areas in the 

 United States which promise more to the archeologist than south- 

 western Florida along the shore from Tampa Bay to Cape Sable. 

 Perhaps no one has added more to our knowledge of this area than 

 Mr. F. H. Gushing, a former ethnologist of the bureau. The prob- 

 lems of southern Florida demand more objective material than we 

 have from the Everglades and the Ten Thousand Islands, where 

 numerous proofs of a vanished population are in evidence in the 

 form of enormous shell heaps and earth mounds. 



The chief began his researches on Weeden Island, near St. Peters- 

 burg, which is situated at the end of Gandy Bridge, an artificial 

 causeway crossing Tampa Bay. The evidences of prehistoric aborig- 

 inal life on Weeden Island are numerous large shell heaps and 

 sand heaps which may be divided into groups or types, as kitchen 

 middens, observatories, foundations of houses, and burial places. 

 Evidently there was formerly a large village near the highest point 

 of the island. One of the mounds which was chosen for excavation 

 turned out to be a cemetery, and in the course of the winter about 

 one-half of it was excavated. The work extended from November 

 until March, inclusive. 



The chief was not able to be in St. Petersburg the whole winter, 

 but after having started the work in November, 1923, he returned 

 to Washington, assigning the direction of the excavations to Mr. 

 Stanley Hedberg and later to Mr. M. W. Stirling, of the National 

 Museum, wlib continued the work until the chief's return in Feb- 

 ruary. As a result of the excavation a large collection of aboriginal 

 objects was brought to the United States National Museum. This 

 collection contains many unique specimens and will later be perma- 

 nently installed in the Museum upon completion of a report on it. 

 No specimens had formerly been excavated at Weeden Island and the 

 unique results of this work are regarded as most important. A pre- 

 liminary report has been published in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous 

 GoUections, vol. 76, No. 13. 



At the present time it is too early to draw final conclusions from 

 the above work, but it is intended to continue excavations in Florida 

 in the winter of 1924. Many of the specimens found werb not very 

 different from those characteristic of the west coast of Florida, but 

 the number of objects is greater and their variations so extensive 



