60 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1958 
temporal region. This mound lacked pottery, but in all other re- 
spects resembled the other three excavated mounds. The pottery 
from this mound group, including one restored vessel, was simple 
stamped, but had a typical Middle Wocdland conoidal vessel shape 
and no decoration. This party disbanded and returned to the Lin- 
coln headquarters on October 3, after 14 weeks of fieldwork. 
The fourth River Basin Surveys field party in the Big Bend Reser- 
voir area was directed by William N. Irving and consisted of a crew 
of eight. At the beginning of the year the party was at work on 
the left bank of the Missouri River in the vicinity of Old Fort 
Thompson in Buffalo County, S. Dak. Efforts were concentrated on 
the Medicine Crow site (89BF2), and excavations were made in three 
separate areas. In area A the men uncovered a circular earth lodge 
and several cache pits of the late occupation of about the early 18th 
century. In area C another circular earth lodge and several cache 
pits were excavated, and the recovered material suggests an occupa- 
tion date a few decades earlier than that of area A. One cache-pit 
burial was recovered there. The main work of the season was in 
area B, where a large series of extensive test excavations revealed 
deeply buried evidence of at least three separate occupations, antedat- 
ing the appearance of ceramics in the area. Some 25 projectile 
points and a large collection of camp refuse were obtained. The 
types of the artifacts and the stratigraphic situation, terminating in 
a coarse sand at the bottom, suggest an early Archaic occupation of 
perhaps as much as 5,000 or more years ago. One skull, recovered 
from the site, compares physically with the “Minnesota Man” re- 
mains, which generally are believed to be late Pleistocene in age. 
This is the best early-period site thus far noted in the immediate 
valley of the Missouri River. It has a strong potential for produc- 
ing evidence for a good sequence of occupations from very early 
preceramic times to late ceramic times. The geology of the terrace 
formations there, and pollen analyses, promise good interpretative 
possibilities. The party ended the season’s work on October 8, after 
14 weeks of excavation. The Neuman and Irving parties shared a 
joint camp at Old Fort Thompson. 
The fifth River Basin Surveys field party in the Big Bend Reser- 
voir area at the beginning of the fiscal year was directed by Harold A. 
Huscher. He was assisted by a crew of three. This was a mobile 
party and constituted an extension of the previous summer’s survey 
work in that area. During the season’s work the group conducted 
extensive test excavations in 14 sites on both sides of the river in 
Buffalo, Hyde, Hughes, Lyman, and Stanley Counties; made surface 
collections from 14 other sites in Buffalo and Hyde Counties; and 
located 16 previously unrecorded sites. Of the sites tested, 12 were 
