Report of the President 79 



The sections discussing social organization and material 

 culture are now ready. 



Under the head of general North American research, two 

 main groups of field problems were pursued independently 

 Archaeological investigations were confined to our local field. 

 Mr. Leslie Spier spent the entire summer excavating in the 

 sands of Abbott's Farm at Trenton and at various points in 

 similar deposits to the north. The work of the previous 

 season made clear the necessary methods of approach to the 

 problem, so that we now have from the Trenton site all the 

 archaeological data needed for its interpretation. This work 

 will have an important bearing upon the vexing question of 

 man's antiquity in the New World. All that now remains is 

 to determine the geological position of the deposit. This is a 

 complex problem and will require further field-work. Dr. 

 Chester A. Reeds, Assistant Curator of Geology, is conducting 

 this part of the investigation. 



Assistant Curator Alanson Skinner gave some attention to 

 local rock-shelters, but so far no definite stratification has 

 come to light. A part of Mr. Skinner's time was given to a 

 review of local archaeological collections, to see what correla- 

 tion, if any, they made with the culture appearing in the 

 Trenton deposits. 



Investigations among the living tribes were in two con- 

 tiguous areas, the Plains and the Plateau areas. Associate 

 Curator Robert H. Lowie visited the Southern Paiute of 

 southwestern Utah and Nevada, heretofore practically an 

 unknown people to the literature of the region. A general 

 collection was made and a large series of myths recorded. 



Under the supervision of the Curator, Mr. James R. Murie 

 has been collecting specimens and compiling data on the 

 Pawnee Indians. Rev. G. L. Wilson continued his exhaustive 

 investigation of the material culture of the Mandan-Hidatsa 

 Indians, giving particular attention to the art of cultivating 

 maize. 



Research in the Museum was greatly strengthened by the 

 establishment of the new position of honorary research asso- 

 ciate. In anthropology, Mr. M. D. C. Crawford was appointed 

 Research Associate in Textiles and Dr. George Bird Grinnell 



