EEPORT OP THE SECRETARY 33 



same time work was resumed on the report dealing with the stratified 

 archeological horizons excavated on Signal Butte the year before. 

 On December 11, 1933, Dr. Strong left Washington to take charge of 

 archeological excavations at Buena Vista Lake, Kern County, Calif., 

 made possible by a grant from the Federal Civil Works Administra- 

 tion. This work lasted until March 30, 1934. The excavations 

 yielded a mass of specimens and detailed stratigraphic data bearing 

 on the prehistoric human occupation of the great southern valley of 

 California. Winslow M. Walker, who acted as assistant director on 

 the excavations, is preparing a report on this work. 



Beside the main excavation work at Buena Vista Lake a series of 

 week-end reconnaissance trips to the Cuyama Valley yielded infor- 

 mation on the prehistory of the eastern Chumash. A large burial 

 ground and several village sites were excavated. The prehistoric 

 house type in this border area seems to have been a round or ovofd 

 earth-lodge, with from two to four central posts and no entrance pas- 

 sage. One house of this sort, early historic in time, had a flue up one 

 side, reminiscent of Pueblo house types. At the close of the C. W. A. 

 excavations a small party, under Dr. Strong's direction, made a sur- 

 vey of caves and village sites in the Santa Barbara Mountains west of 

 the Cuyama Valley, and in the Hurricane Deck region of the Sisquoc 

 River. Considerable perishable material from caves, data on a num- 

 ber of village sites, and some interesting pictographs were obtained 

 on this trip. The culture of the eastern Chumash, as revealed by 

 these valley and mountain sites, seems to have been intermediate 

 between that of the coastal Chumash and Island Shoshonean culture 

 and that of the Lake Yokuts. Particularly interesting is the fact 

 that the eastern Chumash cultural remains are particularly close to 

 those recovered from the older of the two kitchen middens excavated 

 on Buena Vista Lake. 



Dr. Strong returned to Washington May 1, 1934, and resumed 

 work on the Signal Butte and Bay Island archeological reports. 



Winslow M. Walker, associate anthropologist, unable to resume 

 field researches because of the provisions of the Economy Act, instead 

 devoted his time to a systematic examination and classification of the 

 manuscript material collected by the late Dr. Cyrus Thomas relating 

 to Indian mounds. These notes and reports were then refiled accord- 

 ing to geographical location in the manuscript division. Some 

 unpublished notes belonging to the late James Mooney were also 

 found which contained data about archeological sites in various parts 

 of the Cherokee country, and these together with a series of maps 

 prepared by Mr. Mooney in the field were revised with the helpful 



