SIXTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT 27 



August 17, under the sponsorsliip of the Eiver Basin Surveys, he 

 began excavation of the large double mound by cutting a trench 

 across the saddle between the two parts of the unit. The southern 

 face of the trench was then carried forward toward the larger mound. 

 Joseph E. Caldwell joined Bell on August 19 and they decided that 

 neither the available time nor funds would permit the customary 

 method of cutting forward with a continuous vertical face. Accord- 

 ingly, a 10-foot trench was driven through the north-south axis of 

 the mound to reach its base and to obtain a complete profile. The 

 work continued until September 22. Surprisingly, the mound 

 yielded very few specimens. Potsherds and artifacts were scarce 

 throughout its various levels. It was learned, however, that its 

 main portion was composed of six superimposed platforms which 

 probably had been the placements for public buildings, although no 

 complete post-hole patterns were discovered. The summit of the 

 fifth stage above the base had been divided into two nearly equal 

 areas by a single row of posts, and the entire level gave evidence of a 

 severe conflagration in prehistoric times. Four human burials were 

 found in the top level, but they were in such an advanced stage of 

 decomposition that little remained to indicate their character. A 

 number of glass beads in the same level suggests a historic contact in 

 the final days of occupation. The results of the digging indicated 

 that no additional work was required at the Norman site. During 

 the course of the investigations there, however, another site was 

 located which appears to be an important one, and it was recommended 

 that further efforts in the Fort Gibson area be concentrated there. 



Red River oj the North Basin. — Between August 27 and October 

 29, 1948, Kichard P. Wheeler, archeologist, investigated four Corps 

 of Engineers reservoir areas in the Red River of the North Drainage 

 Basin: the Homme Reservoir, under construction on the South Branch 

 of the Park River, the proposed Pembina River and Tongue River 

 Reservoirs, in northeastern North Dakota; and the proposed Orwell 

 Reservoir, on the Ottertail River, in west-central Minnesota. In 

 reports on those surveys, prepared at the Lincoln office of the River 

 Basin Surveys between November 5 and 19 and issued at Washington, 

 D. C, in December 1948, Wheeler noted the occurrence of sites in the 

 vicinity of the Homme and Orwell Reservoirs but recorded the dis- 

 covery of only one archeological site in the reservoir areas proper, 

 an occupation site in the Pembina River Reservoir. The finding of 

 bison bones in all four of the reservoir areas indicates that the river 

 valleys were formerly the habitat of bison and perhaps of other large 

 game and were possibly visited by hunting bands in prehistoric and 

 historic times. It was recommended that rechecks be made at the 

 Homme Reservoir, following the clearing of timber and underbrush, 



