a ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1949 
survey, could not be found because of the deep snow cover. Further 
work will be necessary before recommendations can be made for the 
salvage of archeological remains in that reservoir area. 
Missouri Basin.—The Missouri Basin project, as in previous years, 
continued under the general direction of Dr. Waldo R. Wedel and 
was based on the field headquarters at Lincoln, Nebr. During the 
fiscal year 12 new reservoir basins were surveyed for archeological 
remains; two areas only briefly examined in former seasons were revis- 
ited and subjected to intensive reconnaissance; while comprehensive 
excavations were carried on at one location. In addition to those activ- 
ities and certain paleontological investigations, laboratory and office 
work were carried on throughout the year. 
As the fiscal year opened, three archeological units and one paleonto- 
logical unit were engaged in field work. The largest project was the 
excavation program at Medicine Creek, Nebr., under the field direction 
of M. F. Kivett, archeologist, with George Metcalf as assistant. The 
work was made possible through an agreement with the Bureau of 
Reclamation under which the Bureau provided labor and power equip- 
ment while the River Basin Surveys provided the technical supervision 
and maintained the scientific records. This project terminated on 
August 20, having produced a large body of data and artifacts for 
several inadequately known prehistoric culture horizons. Aside from 
the scientific returns of the operation, it is important to note that the 
applicability of power machinery to the excavation of aboriginal village 
sites under careful technical supervision was amply demonstrated. 
The findings add much new information to that previously obtained 
elsewhere in the Central Plains through the small-scale sampling of 
many sites. 
A second unit under J. T. Hughes, archeologist, with J. M. Shippee 
as assistant, was at work in Angostura Reservoir, South Dakota. In- 
tensive survey there added numerous sites to those recorded during 
preliminary reconnaissance in 1946; and also disclosed the presence of at 
least one site that may have an antiquity of several thousand years. 
Because of the extreme scarcity of data from this early period, and the 
usual difficulty of working such sites, it is imperative that further 
excavation be carried on there. From September 15 to 30 Hughes 
and Shippee carried on preliminary reconnaissance at the Edgemont 
and Keyhole Projects in Wyoming, and at the Pactola and Johnson 
Siding Reservoir basins in South Dakota. At Edgemont 28 sites were 
recorded, while 29 were noted at Keyhole. Only one was noted at 
Pactola and none at Johnson Siding. 
A third unit under Paul L. Cooper carried on excavations at the 
Heart Butte Reservoir basin, North Dakota, through the month of 
July, and then transferred its activities to the proposed lower Oahe 
