SEVENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 19 



in the pool level. On the return trip to Lincoln this party also visited 

 sites in the immediate construction area of the Big Bend Dam (at the 

 request of the Corps of Engineers) and while there collected speci- 

 mens for dendrochronological use. It also visited an earth-lodge vil- 

 lage site near Wessington Springs, S. Dak., and examined several ama- 

 teur collections in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. 



The 1961 summer field season in the Missouri River Basin began in 

 the Merritt Reservoir area on May 25. Robert W. Neuman and an 

 assistant spent 11 days in a final intensive search of the flood-pool area 

 of this dam on the Snake River in Cherry County, Nebr. The dam 

 is well along in construction and, despite two previous surveys that 

 provided very little archeological evidence, it was thought that a final 

 investigation should be made. The shifting sand dunes in this area, 

 combined with the construction activities, might have revealed some 

 cultural remains of the earlier periods. Such was found not to be the 

 case and no archeological manifestations were noted. This reservoir 

 area can be written off as completed. 



The second Missouri Basin Project field party consisted of a crew 

 of nine imder the direction of Robert W. Neuman. This party began 

 work on June 6 in the construction area of the Big Bend Reservoir 

 (actually the upper reaches of the Fort Randall Reservoir) at site 

 39BF225. At that location there is a group of three low burial 

 mounds situated on the terrace just west of the Talking Crow site 

 (39BF3) in Buffalo County, S. Dak. By the end of the fiscal year 

 Neuman had trenched two of these mounds and found three compo- 

 nents present: (a) Historic with coffin burials, (b) the mound com- 

 ponent with secondary pit burials, and (c) a premound, nonceramic 

 component. 



The third Missouri Basin Project field party of the season was 

 composed of a crew of 10 directed by Dr. Warren W. Caldwell. It 

 began work on June 13 at the Pretty Head site (39LM232) . This 

 site is located on the right bank of the Missouri River, 4 miles above 

 the Big Bend Dam site in Lyman County, S. Dak. By the end of the 

 year excavations were well under way in several middens, and in the 

 remains of one long-rectangular house. 



The fourth Missouri Basui Project field party of the 1961 season 

 was a crew of 10 directed by Dr. Robert L. Stephenson. This party 

 began work on June 19 in the upper reaches of the Oahe Reservoir in 

 Corson County, S. Dak., on the west side of the Missouri River some 6 

 miles south of Mobridge. There a series of small sites extending from 

 the Blue Blanket Island site (39'W1V9) downstream into Dewey 

 County to site 39DW232 was to be investigated with intensive exca- 

 vations at the Potts Village site (39C019) and the Le Compte Creek 

 site (39DW234). The latter are the remains of circular house vil- 

 lages with fortifications and suggest a possible link between the later 



