32 AK-]SrUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1931 



for the large middens consisting primarily of conch shells {Strorribus 

 gigas) recently discovered by Doctor Wetmore on Beata Island off 

 the southern coast of Barahona Province, Dominican Republic. 

 Cumulative evidence obtained during the current year and from 

 previous Smithsonian expeditions links the culture of the West 

 Indies with the Arawakan tribes of Venezuela and of the Guianas. 

 There is also data to show that there was no direct tribal contact of 

 these island Arawak with the tribes of southern Florida, although 

 culturally in many ways they were closely associated. There seems 

 to have been a vast overlapping of culture traits of the southeastern 

 United States from the south, these trait complexes centering about 

 the cultivation of maize and the production of pottery. In so far as 

 cassava (yucca) formed a staple food, the former aboriginal culture 

 traits are associated with those of the South American forested 

 tropical lowlands. 



As in former years, the expedition headed by Mr. Collins was made 

 possible by a Smithsonian grant, while that of Mr. Krieger was 

 financed by Dr. W. L. Abbott. 



From April 21 to June 6, 1931, the assistant curator of archeology, 

 F. M. Setzler, was engaged in archeological investigations in Texas, 

 arranged in cooperation with the Bureau of American Ethnology 

 of the Smithsonian Institution. After briefly examining several 

 sites along the Gulf coast, he excavated four caves and one rock 

 shelter in Presidio County and visited several other caves in that 

 vicinity. From one large cave examples of aboriginal basketry, 

 matting, cradles, sandals, and other materials were recovered. 

 Although this site is only 150 miles east of a marginal Basket Maker 

 culture, no trace was found of these early Southwestern people. The 

 material exhumed by Mr. Setzler differs in some respects from any 

 other in the Museum, and more research will be required before it 

 can be identified definitely. He has prepared a preliminary report 

 on this field work. 



Except for two weeks in October, 1930, J. Townsend Russell, jr., 

 collaborator in Old World archeology, spent the year in Europe, 

 where he continued archeological studies and participated in the 

 excavations of the American School of Prehistoric Research at Castel 

 Merle, in the Dordogne, France, and in Czechoslovakia. Toward 

 the close of the fiscal year Mr. Russell was active in details looking 

 toward a cooperative undertaking with the University of Toulouse 

 for excavation of prehistoric sites in France, which will add de- 

 cidedly to the collections of the National Museum in a field from 

 which our Institution previously has had very little. These investi- 

 gations are financed by a special fund for work in Old World 

 archeology. 



