SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT 15 



temporal region. This mound lacked pottery, but in all other re- 

 spects resembled the other three excavated mounds. The pottery 

 from this mound group, including one restored vessel, was simple 

 stamped, but had a typical Middle Woodland conoidal vessel shape 

 and no decoration. This party disbanded and returned to the Lin- 

 coln headquarters on October 3, after 14 weel^ of fieldwork. 



The fourth Eiver Basin Surveys field party in the Big Bend Keser- 

 voir area was directed by William N. Irving and consisted of a crew 

 of eight. At the beginning of the year the party was at work on 

 the left bank of the Missouri River in the vicinity of Old Fort 

 Thompson in Buffalo County, S. Dak. Efforts were concentrated on 

 the Medicine Crow site (39BF2), and excavations were made in three 

 separate areas. In area A the men uncovered a circular earth lodge 

 and several cache pits of the late occupation of about the early 18th 

 century. In area C another circular earth lodge and several cache 

 pits were excavated, and the recovered material suggests an occupa- 

 tion date a few decades earlier than that of area A. One cache-pit 

 burial was recovered there. The main work of the season was in 

 area B, where a large series of extensive test excavations revealed 

 deeply buried evidence of at least three separate occupations, antedat- 

 ing the appearance of ceramics in the area. Some 25 projectile 

 points and a large collection of camp refuse were obtained. The 

 types of the artifacts and the stratigraphic situation, terminating in 

 a coarse sand at the bottom, suggest an early Archaic occupation of 

 perhaps as much as 5,000 or more years ago. One skull, recovered 

 from the site, compares physically with the "Minnesota Man" re- 

 mains, which generally are believed to be late Pleistocene in age. 

 This is the best early-period site thus far noted in the immediate 

 valley of the Missouri Eiver. It has a strong potential for produc- 

 ing evidence for a good sequence of occupations from very early 

 preceramic times to late ceramic times. The geology of the terrace 

 formations there, and pollen analyses, promise good interpretative 

 possibilities. The party ended the season's work on October 3, after 

 14 weeks of excavation. The Neuman and Irving parties shared a 

 joint camp at Old Fort Thompson. 



The fifth River Basin Surveys field party in the Big Bend Reser- 

 voir area at the beginning of the fiscal year was directed by Harold A. 

 Huscher. He was assisted by a crew of three. This was a mobile 

 party and constituted an extension of the previous summer's survey 

 work in that area. During the season's work the group conducted 

 extensive test excavations in 14 sites on both sides of the river in 

 Buffalo, Hyde, Hughes, Lyman, and Stanley Counties ; made surface 

 collections from 14 other sites in Buffalo and Hyde Counties; and 

 located 16 previously unrecorded sites. Of the sites tested, 12 were 



490358—59 3 



