SECRETARY’S REPORT 65 
Texas——The River Basin Surveys in Texas continued to operate 
throughout the year from the base and headquarters supplied by the 
Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. 
Excavations were completed at one project, the survey of another res- 
ervoir basin was brought to conclusion, and two others were started 
and finished. 
At the beginning of the year Joe Ben Wheat, archeologist, was en- 
gaged in excavations at the Addicks Reservoir. This work was termi- 
nated on July 15. Mr. Wheat then proceeded to Austin where he 
studied the material he had collected and prepared a preliminary 
report covering both the results of his survey of the Addicks Basin 
and his excavations in two of the sites located there. He also 
wrote a paper “Archeological Survey of the Addicks Basin: A Pre- 
liminary Report” which was published in volume 18 of the Bulletin 
of the Texas Archeological and Paleontological Society. He resigned 
from the Surveys on August 15 in order to return to the university 
and complete his graduate work. 
The excavations at the Addicks Reservoir proved interesting because 
they revealed a sequence of cultural stages extending from the era 
before pottery making and agriculture were introduced through suc- 
ceeding centuries until the beginning of contact with European cul- 
ture. The period covered is from about A. D. 900 to 1700. Who the 
people were is not known, but certain postulations may be made. At 
the time of the first French and Spanish explorations of the region 
the Akokisa band of the Atakapan occupied the area. Although little 
is known of the specific culture of this group, it is generally considered 
to have shared the general Atakapan culture extending into the lower 
Mississippi Valley. The archeological culture is of the same south- 
eastern pattern, which may point to the Akokisa as being the pre- 
Columbian inhabitants of the Addicks district. 
At the beginning of the fiscal year Robert L. Stephenson, arche- 
ologist, was making a reconnaissance of the Whitney Reservoir Basin 
on the Brazos River north of Waco. This work continued until Oc- 
tober 1, although August 2-4 he returned to Austin for the purpose of 
depositing material collected and of conferring with members of the 
Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas; August 
30 to September 1 he visited the Spanish Fort and other sites in the 
central Red River area; and September 13-14 he went to a number of 
archeological locations near Waco, but outside the reservoir basin, for 
the purpose of gathering comparative data. On August 23 he made a 
114-hour flight over the entire Whitney area, successfully locating 
archeological sites from the air and obtaining a comprehensive under- 
standing of the district asa whole. He returned to Austin on October 
1 and spent most of the following 2 months studying the material col- 
lected and writing the preliminary report. He also prepared an ar- 
