78 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
angular point with a concave base. In the same stratum were ovoid 
knives, crude scrapers, a long-stemmed drill, hand-size cobbles, and 
fragments of bison bone. No pottery was in association. Site 
39BF270, located about 2 miles west of 39BF224, consisted of four 
low circular mounds, three of which were excavated. The recovered 
artifacts compare closely with those from the Truman Mound site. 
At site 391.M238, on the west side of the Missouri at the mouth 
of Good Soldier Creek, where the west abutment of the dam is to be 
built, a large “mound” was extensively cross-trenched and a series of 
test pits were excavated in an effort to locate village remains. The 
“mound” proved to be of natural origin (165 feet long, 90 feet wide, 
5 feet high) but capped by two occupational deposits separated strat- 
igraphically by a stratum of sterile yellow silt. The upper component 
contained simple-stamped pottery, triangular points, scattered post 
molds (many with bone wedges), and a few shallow firepits. The 
lower component contained cord-paddled pottery, large side-notched 
points, shallow basin-shaped firepits, and a large rock-filled hearth. 
A small rock shelter (391L.M239), located about a mile and a half 
upstream from Good Soldier Creek, was briefly tested. It was 
thought that this site might possibly be the “Truteau Cave,” histori- 
cally known to have been used as winter quarters by the trader Tru- 
teau in 1794. Excavation demonstrated the shelter to be sterile of 
any cultural material. Site 39L.M6, a deeply buried, multicomponent 
village site at the mouth of Counselor Creek, 3 miles upstream from 
site 39L.M238, was visited, and an eroding cache pit excavated.. Some 
additional collecting was done, but no further excavation was at- 
tempted. The Neuman party terminated fieldwork on August 22, 
after 14 weeks in the field. The Neuman, Irving, and Deez parties 
shared camp facilities near the Brule Landing, 5 miles upstream from 
Old Fort Thompson. 
A fourth River Basin Surveys field party in the Big Bend Reser- 
voir area consisted of nine men, directed by Bernard Golden. This 
party conducted excavations at the Hickey Brothers site (89LM4), 
located on the right (west) side of the Missouri River, about 7 miles 
north of the Lower Brule Agency. The site is situated on the first 
terrace above the river, just north of the constricted neck of the Little 
Bend. The occupation area is delineated by a well-preserved fortifica- 
tion ditch. The latter is “coffin shaped” in plan, with bastions at 
the corners and in the intervening runs of wall. A single corner 
bastion was excavated, exposing a shallow moat backed by a pendulum 
loop of stockade posts. The stockade line was further verified along 
one of the long walls, and a series of 25 test pits was excavated to 
sample the body of the site. Four of the shallow “house” depressions 
within the fortification were tested by area excavation and trenching. 
