74 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I26 



were rarely encountered in association with those hearths and stone 

 circles that were excavated. Stone hearths excavated were either 

 simply clusters of stones on the former habitational surface or rock- 

 filled, bowl-shaped pits. The excavations in stone circles, most of 

 which occurred in groups on higher terrain, revealed no hearths or 

 post holes. 



The final investigations in Canyon Ferry Reservoir seem to confirm 

 unequivocally Wedel's earlier observation that only sporadic and 

 brief occupations by small groups engaged in hunting and gathering 

 activities are represented here. It would appear that most of the sites 

 investigated might be accounted for by an occupation of not more than 

 a few days by a few individuals. Despite the extremely limited char- 

 acter of the conclusions that can now be drawn from the data col- 

 lected, the investigations have been worthwhile in that they reveal 

 the nature of aboriginal exploitation of a small area with a particular 

 ecological setting. The significance of this contribution to knowledge 

 will increase, too, as it becomes possible at some future time, through 

 the construction of a cultural and temporal framework from investi- 

 gations in more intensively occupied surrounding areas, to assign the 

 products of human activity here to their respective places in the over- 

 all historical picture of the larger region. 



NEBRASKA 



As in previous years, three Nebraska organizations — the Nebraska 

 State Historical Society, the University of Nebraska State Museum, 

 and the Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Nebraska — ap- 

 plied a major part of their resources available for archeological re- 

 search to the study of areas that had become critical as a result of 

 the Federal water-development program. In 195 1 the Historical So- 

 ciety accepted the responsibility for the investigation of certain sites 

 in the Fort Randall Reservoir, in South Dakota, but otherwise the 

 studies were in threatened areas in Nebraska. During both years, 

 the Laboratory of Anthropology continued its investigations in the 

 Harlan County Reservoir, and the State Museum carried on researches 

 previously begun in the Medicine Creek Reservoir. In 1950 the His- 

 torical Society surveyed and carried out salvage excavations in the 

 Trenton Reservoir. 



Harlan County Reservoir site. — In the Harlan County Reservoir 

 area, where previous work had revealed the existence of remains 

 attributable to four periods, investigations were continued on an ex- 

 tensive basis by the Laboratory of Anthropology party. During the 

 two field seasons excavations were in seven sites, amons: which were 



