54 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



tural features included a warehouse, a cellar, and a dwelling. Among 

 the objects recovered were two coins dated 1857, glass beads, a religious 

 medallion, several small catlinite balls, and a great mass of hand- 

 wrought iron. No further work is contemplated at that site. 



A second River Basin Surveys party in the Oahe Reservoir area, 

 directed by Dr. Waldo R. Wedel, was in the field at the beginning of 

 the fiscal year and completed 12 weeks of digging on August 25. This 

 party was continuing excavations begun in previous years at the 

 Cheyenne River site at the mouth of the Cheyenne River. Three 

 definite occupations of the site were identified. The earliest was a 

 rectangular-house component. The middle one was a circular-house 

 component, and the final occupation was protohistoric Arikara, with 

 circular houses. An encircling stockade and defensive ditch were dis- 

 covered and excavated, but the specific occupation to which it belonged 

 was not definitely determined. It presumably belonged to one of the 

 two early occupations. A large burial area was excavated and the 

 remains of over 50 individuals were recovered. The burials, in small 

 pits placed close together, were flexed and in most cases had been 

 covered with poles or wooden slabs. The burials almost certainly were 

 from the Arikara occupation. Some artifacts, including pottery and 

 a fine catlinite pipe, were recovered from the graves. The 1956 

 season's excavations at the Cheyenne River site completed the investi- 

 gations planned for that location. 



A third River Basin Surveys party in the Oahe Reservoir area, 

 directed by Carl F. Miller, was in the field at the beginning of the fiscal 

 year and completed 9 weeks of digging on August 24. This party of 

 nine began, and brought to satisfactory completion, the excavation of 

 the Hosterman site on the Missouri River near Whitlocks Crossing, 

 S. Dak. At that site evidence was found of a stockade consisting of a 

 double row of posts. Several refuse pits, cache pits, and other similar 

 features were excavated, including pits containing large sections of 

 articulated bison bones. The latter appear to have been slaughtering 

 areas. House structures presented a difficult problem as post holes 

 were dim and difficult to identify. One structure was fairly clear in its 

 outline, but the entrance was not located. Artifacts were moderately 

 abundant and suggest that a single occupation, perhaps of short dura- 

 tion, will be established for the site when analysis of the material has 

 been completed. No further work is contemplated at that location. 



The fourth River Basin Surveys party in the Oahe Reservoir area, 

 directed by Dr. Robert L. Stephenson, began work on July 2 and com- 

 pleted 6 weeks in the field on August 10. This party of 10 conducted 

 a testing operation at the Sully site some 20 miles above Pierre on the 

 left bank of the Missouri River. The site is that of the largest known 



