NO. 2 SALVAGE PROGRAM, I95O-I95I — COOPER I7 



ously unrecorded, were found. Test trenches were excavated in four 

 open camps, in a rock shelter, and at the bases of the exposures at 

 three petroglyph sites. At one petroglyph site (48FR12) charcoal, 

 burned areas, and animal bones were found to a depth of 3 feet, but 

 no artifacts were recovered; no indubitable evidence of occupation 

 was found in the tests of the other two petroglyph sites. 



A month was devoted to rather extensive excavation of a large, 

 newly discovered camp site, 48FR84, the Wise site. A large stone- 

 paved hearth, 5 feet in diameter, and many small unprepared and 

 stone hearths were exposed in the site, which proved to be a shallow 

 one. The fairly large artifact sample recovered included rather 

 numerous projectile points, predominantly triangular and side-notched 

 with concave or notched bases ; miscellaneous chipped-stone artifacts ; 

 full-grooved mauls; and pottery sherds, many of which belonged to 

 a single restorable vessel. Manos and metates appear to be largely if 

 not entirely lacking in the site. The sherds are mostly gray and are 

 fairly heavily tempered with angular stone fragments. The restored 

 vessel has a subconoidal base and is constricted only moderately 

 above the rounded shoulder. There is a very slight outward curve 

 just below the rounded lip. Both surfaces are unevenly smoothed 

 and there is no decoration. 



At site 48FR23 (pi. I, a), on the right side of Tuff Creek, an 

 eastern tributary of the Bighorn River, artifacts were abundant on 

 the surface and in the trenches excavated by the party. Numerous 

 hearths — areas of burned earth, clusters of fire-cracked rocks, and 

 basins lined and filled with rocks — were uncovered but, as at 48FR84, 

 no evidence of structures was observed. The artifact complex is 

 distinct from that of 48FR84 and suggests a markedly different 

 economy and probably an appreciable difference in time. Perhaps 

 the most obvious difference is the presence in great abundance of 

 manos and metate fragments, which were sometimes found in hearths 

 with other, unworked stones. Among the chipped-stone artifacts 

 projectile points, predominantly corner-notched, are rather numerous, 

 as are scrapers of various kinds except end scrapers, which are rare. 

 Also of rather common occurrence are choppers, averaging about fist 

 size and usually made by minimum percussion flaking of fragments 

 of quartzite cobbles. 



The results of the work at 48FR23 and 48FR84, together with 

 materials from other sites in the reservoir area, suggest that at least 

 two complexes, characterized by different economies and probably 

 temporally separated, are represented. Judged from the evidence of 

 Birdshead Cave and other evidence pertaining to the sequence of 



