4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



mentary grant from the American Philosophical Society enabled him 

 to proceed to southeast Alaska to complete his study of the Alaska 

 Native Brotherhood. In mid-March he returned to Washington. 

 Since his return Dr. Drucker has worked on the final report on these 

 intertribal organizations and on related problems of acculturation on 

 the Northwest Coast. He also devoted considerable time to a com- 

 mittee study of the research potential of the Smithsonian Institution. 

 During the fiscal year Drucker prepared two papers for publication, 

 one on "Origins of Northwest Coast Culture" and the other with 

 Eduardo Contreras on "Site Keconnaissance in Olmec Territory." 



RIVER BASIN SURVEYS 

 (Prepared by Frank H. H. Roberts, Jr.) 



The River Basin Surveys, instituted in the autumn of 1945 as a 

 unit of the Bureau of American Ethnology to carry into effect a 

 memorandum of understanding between the Smithsonian Institution 

 and the National Park Service, providing for the salvage of archeolog- 

 ical and paleontological materials which will be lost as a result of the 

 nation-wide program for flood control, irrigation, hydroelectric and 

 navigation projects sponsored by the Federal Government, State, and 

 private agencies, continued its operations during the year. As in 

 previous years the work was carried on in cooperation with the Na- 

 tional Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation of the Department 

 of the Interior, the Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, and 

 a number of State and local institutions. During the fiscal year 1953- 

 54 the investigations were financed by transfer of $71,495 from the 

 National Park Service to the Smithsonian Institution. Included in 

 that sum were $64,500 for work in the Missouri Basin and $6,995 for 

 other areas. An additional carry-over of $3,409 made the over-all 

 total available for obligation during the fiscal year $74,904. That sum 

 was approximately only 43 percent of that available for the preceding 

 year and made necessary a sharp reduction in the work of the River 

 Basin Surveys. 



Activities in the field consisted for the most part of reconnaissances 

 or surveys for the purpose of locating sites that will be involved in 

 construction work or are so situated that they will eventually be 

 covered by the waters of the reservoirs formed by the completion of 

 dams. There also was some excavation, but because of lack of funds 

 the digging was on a small scale. In several reservoir areas intensive 

 test surveys were carried on. The parties concerned with that activity 

 visited sites previously located and recorded but about which there was 

 meager information. At each such site a number of test pits were dug 

 and artifacts were collected in order to determine the cultural affilia- 

 tions of the remains found there. Straight reconnaissance parties 



