16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



Reservoir during July and August. Two small parties were at work 

 during December and January, respectively, in brief investigations 

 in the Merritt and Big Bend Eeservoir areas. One party was at work 

 in the Big Bend Eeservoir area and a second (mobile) party was 

 working in the general Missouri Basin area in June. 



Other field work in the Missouri Basin during the year included 

 10 parties from State institutions operating imder cooperative agree- 

 ments with the National Park Service and in cooperation with the 

 Smithsonian Institution in the Inter- Agency Archeological Salvage 

 Program. 



At the beginning of the fiscal year, in the Oahe Reservoir area, 

 Dr. Robert L. Stephenson and a crew of 20 men were engaged in 

 excavations at the Sully site (39SL4:). This was the third and final 

 season of work at this, the largest of the earth-lodge village sites in 

 the Missouri Basin. The site was situated on th-e second terrace of the 

 Missouri River, 21 miles above Pierre, in Sully County, S.Dak. The 

 1958 investigations were concentrated largely in the central and east- 

 em portions of the site. These, with those of the two preceding 

 seasons, provided a reasonably equal sample of features and specimens 

 from all portions of the site. Excavation technique differed some- 

 what in the 1958 season. During the 1957 season, whole houses were 

 excavated, but the surrounding areas outside were not examined. In 

 1958 only one house was excavated in this manner. In the other ex- 

 cavation units, only half houses were dug, but the surrounding areas 

 on three sides of each house were also excavated. In this way portions 

 of 19 houses were investigated, with most of the essential structural 

 details obtained from all but two of them. Experience of the previous 

 seasons' work at this site suggested that more could be learned of the 

 total village pattern in this way, and that excavation of complete 

 houses was neither necessary nor economically feasible. Besides the 

 house areas, half of a ceremonial lodge, two large cache-pit areas, a 

 scaffold area, a midden heap, and another portion of the "plaza" were 

 also excavated, and two midden areas were tested. Thus all or parts 

 of 32 of the nearly 400 houses have been excavated, as have been 3 

 of the 4 ceremonial lodges, a scaffold area, several cache-pit areas, 

 midden heaps, and a "plaza." Numerous tests were made in an effort 

 to locate a fortification ditch or stockade, but none was found. 



Emphasis was placed, in the field, upon securing architectural in- 

 formation, and good superposition of varying types of dwelling 

 houses was obtained. Two distinct, circular, dwelling-house types 

 were present, one with a series of widely spaced large wall posts of 

 an early period, and one with a series of small, closely set wall posts 

 of a later period. There was considerable variation within each type. 

 The earlier type had short entry ways, while the later one had medium- 



