88 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I26 



mound, a segment of a ditch and stockade at 39LM26, and a number 

 of storage pits were excavated. Additional investigation was planned 

 for 1952. The house remains that were completely uncovered were 

 circular, with central fireplace, square central roof support arrange- 

 ment, closely spaced outer posts, and an intermediate set of posts 

 that did not conform to a well-defined pattern. The vestibule en- 

 trances faced to the south and southeast. The house in 39LM26 

 appeared to have been extensively remodeled, as indicated by the 

 presence of two fireplaces, one intruding into the other, and by evi- 

 dence of abandonment and filling of old post holes and the setting of 

 new posts. There was evidence, too, of an attempt to seal off old 

 refuse deposits by blanketing them with clay at points where the 

 house walls were expanded. Storage pits were of two kinds, bell- 

 shaped and cylindrical. The walls of the former were often plastered 

 with red clay, but the cylindrical pits lacked such treatment. The 

 nature of the artifact inventory is consistent with an early contact 

 date for the sites and this is borne out by the consistent presence of 

 limited amounts of materials derived from White culture in the vari- 

 ous features. A large proportion of the pottery is of the Talking 

 Crow Straight Rim type defined by Smith, but other Talking Crow 

 types are present also, as are cloistered rims like those from Nebraska 

 Lower Loup sites. The sites appear to be rather closely related to 

 the late period at Talking Crow and probably to the late component of 

 the Oldham site as well. Kivett has tentatively suggested a date of 

 not later than 1750 and perhaps as early as the last half of the seven- 

 teenth century for the major occupation of the Oacoma sites. His 

 reasons for this estimate seem valid and it will be surprising if further 

 evidence does not support his suggestion. 



WYOMING 



In view of the large numbers of sites in the two Wyoming reser- 

 voirs — Boysen and Keyhole — in which the River Basin Surveys car- 

 ried on intensive investigations in 1950 and 1951, respectively, and 

 of the significance of many of them as revealed by earlier surveys, it 

 was fortunate indeed that the University of Wyoming was able to 

 assist in the task of salvage. Under memoranda of agreement with 

 the National Park Service, parties from the University, under the 

 supervision of William Mulloy, investigated several sites in the Boy- 

 sen Reservoir in 1950 and excavated in one site in the Keyhole Reser- 

 voir in 1951. While each of the two organizations carried on an inde- 

 pendent program in different sites, consultation during the field 



