4 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



Middle American Indians. Another chapter for the Handbook^ en- 

 titled "Tzotzil," is in preparation. Dr. Laughlin returned to Wash- 

 ington in mid-May to check on data he had obtained in the field and 

 to consult references in various libraries, and on June 14 left again 

 for Mexico to continue his field studies. 



RIVER BASIN SURVEYS 



The Eiver Basin Surveys, the unit of the Bureau of American 

 Ethnology organized to cooperate with the National Park Service and 

 the Bureau of Eeclamation of the Department of the Interior, the 

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

 local institutions in the program for salvage archeology in areas to 

 be flooded or otherwise destroyed by the construction of large dams, 

 continued its activities. An increase in funds made possible an ex- 

 pansion of the program throughout the Missouri Basin. The investi- 

 gations during 1962-63 were supported by a transfer of $271,000 from 

 the National Park Service, a carryover of $64,498 Missouri Basin 

 money, a grant of $7,285 from the Appalachian Power Co., and a 

 carryover of $4,080 from an earlier contribution by the Idaho Power 

 Co. The National Park Service funds were to support the investiga- 

 tions in the Missouri Basin, and the grant from the Appalachian 

 Power Co. was to provide for archeological excavations along the 

 Eoanoke Eiver in southern Virginia where the Smith Mountain 

 Project is nearing completion. The balance from the Idaho Power 

 Co. came from a grant originally made to conduct researches in the 

 Hells Canyon Eeservoir area along the Snake Eiver, Idaho-Oregon, 

 and the work this year was a continuation of that project. This par- 

 ticular investigation was carried on as a cooperative project between 

 the Eiver Basin Surveys and the Museum of Idaho State College at 

 Pocatello. The grand total of funds available for the Eiver Basin 

 Surveys in 1962-63 was $346,863. 



Activities in the field pertained, in large part, to surveys and ex- 

 cavations. Most of the work was concentrated in the digging or 

 testing of sites but surveys were made in six new reservoir basins. 

 Five of the new reservoirs were in Kansas ; the sixth was in Nebraska. 

 At the beginning of the fiscal year, nine excavating parties were in 

 the field in the Missouri Basin and one survey party was operating 

 in Montana. In September, digging was started in the Smith Moun- 

 tain Eeservoir area in southern Virginia, and in October a small group 

 collected pollen samples from areas in western Nebraska. During 

 February and early March one party excavated a site along the Chat- 

 tahoochee Eiver in Georgia. In May, a small group worked for a 

 short period in South Dakota, while another made the reconnaissance 

 of the six reservoirs previously mentioned. Also during May a party 



