SEVENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 21 



at the Black Widow (39ST3) and Meyers (39ST10) sites. This party 

 disbanded on August 25 and returned to the headquarters in Lincoln 

 after 10 weeks in the field. 



The fifth Kiver Basin Surveys field party in the Oahe Reservoir 

 area began work on July 25. It consisted of Harold A. Huscher and 

 a crew of two men and worked primarily on the left bank of the 

 Missouri River in Stanley County, S. Dak. This survey-mapping- 

 testing crew investigated a series of six sites along Black Widow 

 Ridge, 3 to 6 miles above the H. P. Thomas site, mapping and testing 

 each. They are sites 39ST25, 39ST50, 39ST3 (Black Widow), 

 39ST49, 39ST203, and 39ST201. The Huscher party mapped all four 

 sites being excavated by the Wheeler party, 39ST12, 39ST41, 39ST42, 

 and 39ST236, and mapped and tested three other sites some 10 miles 

 below the H. P. Thomas site. These are sites 39ST37, 39ST38, and 

 39ST39. In addition, this party mapped and assisted the McNutt 

 crew in testing the Pitlick site (39HU16) on the left bank of the 

 Missouri River. Huscher was severely injured in a fall from a photo- 

 graphic ladder on August 24, thus terminating the work of this 

 field party after 4 weeks in the field. Following 5i/^ weeks in the 

 hospital and another month of recuperation, he returned to duty on 

 October 13. The Wlieeler and Huscher parties shared a joint field 

 camp near Fort Bennett. 



In the Big Bend Reservoir area there were five River Basin Surveys 

 field parties at work at the beginning of the fiscal year. The first con- 

 sisted of a crew of 12 men under the direction of William N. Irving 

 and included an assistant trained in geology to aid in investigations 

 of stratigraphic terrace sequences relating to the geological-archeo- 

 logical interpretations of the sites and their immediate vicinity. This 

 party concentrated its efforts on the excavation of the early occupa- 

 tions of the Medicine Crow site (39BF2) , begun last season, and other 

 preceramic sites in the immediate vicinity. These sites are located 

 near Old Fort Thompson on the left bank of the Missouri River, in 

 or near the construction area of the Big Bend Dam, Buffalo County, 

 S. Dak. At the Medicine Crow site, three major occupation zones, 

 each containing two or more components, are distinguishable on the 

 basis of the vertical distribution of point types within a 3- to 6- 

 foot section of primarily aeolian silt. The basal section of a small 

 fluted point was found in the lowermost occupation zone. From 

 the same zone, however, came points that resemble those of the Fron- 

 tier Complex, and others suggesting a long temporal range for the 

 basal portion of the deposit. 



Additional investigations were made at two sites, 39BF238 and 

 39BF250, that had not been recorded previously, and at the Aiken 

 site (39BF215). Only at the latter were immediately significant re- 



