52 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 7 



were in the field in the July-October period. Parties from the Uni- 

 versities of South Dakota, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, and 

 the State Historical Society of North Dakota were in the field in the 

 May-June period. 



A River Basin Surveys party, directed by Robert W. Neuman, was 

 in the field at the beginning of the fiscal year and completed 10 weeks 

 of excavation in four sites along White Rock Creek in the Lovewell 

 Reservoir area in Jewell County, Kans. Three of the sites were 

 fairly extensive but did not yield much material. The artifacts 

 found suggest that they may belong to the White Rock Aspect. The 

 latter is so poorly known that the evidence recovered from them 

 should, even though scanty, clarify the picture greatly. The fourth 

 site was a moderate-sized burial mound of the "Middle Woodland" 

 period. Unfortunately it had been partially destroyed in earlier 

 years by pot-hunting activity. The profile and structure of the 

 mound were, however, readily discernible, and enough material was 

 recovered to identify readily its cultural relationship. Fragments 

 of human and other bones were recovered along with cord-marked 

 potsherds and other artifacts, including two small shell gorgets. No 

 further work is anticipated for the area to be flooded by the waters 

 of the Lovewell Reservoir. 



On September 21 and 22 further investigations were made im- 

 mediately adjacent to the Oldham Site in the Fort Randall Reservoir 

 in South Dakota in an area in which burials and artifacts had been 

 exposed by wave action and lowering of the reservoir. This site had 

 been partially excavated in previous years, and it was hoped that the 

 recent return there would produce additional important evidence. 

 Furthermore there was an opportunity to determine whether a site 

 once flooded could yield worthwhile archeological information if the 

 water receded and left it exposed. Unfortunately, this work produced 

 no new evidence concerning the occupations of the site, even though 

 some artifacts were collected. The ground, though 10 feet above the 

 water level, was too saturated and disturbed to provide any useful 

 information about relationships to the house features, village, or other 

 previously collected material. The work demonstrated conclusively 

 that sites must be dug before they are flooded. 



A survey-testing party, directed by Harold A. Huscher, at the 

 beginning of the fiscal year was conducting an intensive survey of the 

 Big Bend Reservoir area, which is situated between the upper reaches 

 of the Fort Randall Reservoir and the Oahe Dam, on the Missouri 

 River, in central South Dakota. The party of three was in the field 

 for 15 weeks and located, visited, and recorded 129 new archeological 

 sites and revisited 26 preyiously known. Detailed field maps were 

 made of approximately one-quarter of these sites and about one-third 

 of them were tested. Many of them are large and productive and 



