NO. 2 MISSOURI VALLEY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM VVEDEL 25 



approximately 20 miles long, will inundate land in Barnes and Griggs 

 Counties. Normal summer pool elevation is planned for 1,266 feet. 



In the week allotted to reconnaissance at Baldhill, only a small 

 portion of the future reservoir area was examined. Heavy vegetation 

 doubtless obscured many traces of native activity and concealed sur- 

 face evidence. Nevertheless, it is abundantly clear that the area has 

 been occupied, probably at more than one period, by aboriginal groups 

 who left several types of remains. Ten sites, all previously unreported, 

 were located and recorded by Kivett's party. 



Six sites are occupational areas, that is, are presumed to mark areas 

 of former domestic village activity. They occur on low terraces along 

 abandoned stream channels, and are commonly covered by a black 

 alluvial mantle. There are few cut banks or erosion scars where deeply 

 buried strata can be sought. Tests on the terraces showed that some of 

 the occupational areas have considerable pottery, bone fragments, 

 stonework, and other cultural debris. A variety of surface treatments 

 and other techniques is shown by the pottery, and this, with certain 

 other lines of evidence, would seem to indicate that more than one 

 group was in the region. 



In addition to the camp or village sites, three mound groups were 

 located. The groups consist of two to five mounds each, circular or 

 elliptical in ground plan, 3 to 6 feet high, and 15 to 30 feet in diameter. 

 All are on the bluffs above the proposed pool level ; they will not be 

 flooded, but are subject to vandalism by visitors, workmen, and 

 others. Some have already been partially destroyed in this fashion. 

 It is reported that numerous burials have been taken from some of 

 these mounds. The River Basin Surveys party made a small exca- 

 vation in one (32GG1) in Griggs County, where cultivation had 

 brought human skeletal remains to the surface. The disarticulated 

 skeletons of eight individuals were recovered. Their distribution 

 suggests a cumulative process of mound growth, with burials prob- 

 ably added from time to time, rather than a single mass grave. There 

 were no associated artifacts to indicate possible cultural connections. 



From the limited samples of artifacts collected, most of them per- 

 force on the surfaces of sites where the chances are good for admixture 

 with later materials, a succession of occupations seems indicated. 

 Some of the pottery fragments show plain unmodified surfaces ; 

 others have been roughened through application to the wet clay of a 

 cord-wrapped paddle ; still others have parallel ridges, made by treat- 

 ment with a grooved paddle. There is also considerable variety in 

 the tempering material used. The fact that different methods of 

 surface treatment and a variety of tempering materials sometimes 



