72 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 2 



Point Reservoir on the Missouri River in Nebraska and South Dakota. 

 The first of June found the party at the Keyhole Reservoir in Wyo- 

 ming exploring Cretaceous sediments and the latest report is that 

 most of the skeleton of a small plesiosaur was found in the New- 

 castle member of the Granerose shale, the first record of vertebrate 

 remains from that formation. On June 25 the party moved to the 

 Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana and was just starting work there 

 at the end of the fiscal year. 



During the course of the year seven preliminary appraisal reports 

 were completed, mimeographed, and distributed to the cooperating 

 agencies; four were completed and are ready for mimeographing; 

 and two supplements to previous reports were finished and are await- 

 ing mimeographing. Four short articles on specific subjects in Plains 

 archeology were prepared by members of the staff and published 

 in the Plains Archeological Conference News Letter. Two articles 

 were published in American Antiquity and one report appeared in 

 the Proceedings of the U. S. National Museum. One technical report 

 on excavations in the Oahe area was completed and the first drafts 

 of those on two others have been finished. 



The laboratory at Lincoln processed 87,935 specimens from 170 

 sites in 18 reservoir areas and 2 sites not in reservoir areas. The 

 work in the laboratory also included : reflex copies of record sheets, 

 21,444; contact prints made, 8,826; negatives, 2,036; enlargements, 

 1,326; specimens drawn for illustrations, 872; color transparencies 

 cataloged, 321 ; drawings, tracings, maps made, 112. 



Robert B. Cumming, Jr., archeologist, was in charge of the survey 

 and excavation of aboriginal archeological sites at the Fort Randall 

 Reservoir in South Dakota from July 1 to November 6 and from 

 May 19 to the end of the fiscal year. During the winter months at 

 the Lincoln headquarters Mr. Cumming worked on the technical re- 

 port on the Oldham site, the scene of most of his activities during the 

 1951 summer field season. 



Paul L. Cooper, archeologist, served as field director for the Mis- 

 souri Basin activities during the period from July 1 to February 28. 

 On the latter date he became consulting archeologist for the project. 

 During the spring months Mr. Cooper devoted considerable time to 

 discussing the project with Mr. Brown, the new chief, and in con- 

 sultation with other members of the staff on archeological procedures 

 in the laboratory. He completed a report of progress for the period 

 from the beginning of the project in 1946 through April 1952 for 

 the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee. He also worked on 

 a more detailed report covering the calendar years 1950 and 1951. He 

 met with the Interior Missouri Basin Field Committee at its April 

 session where he evaluated the progress made to that date by the 



