66 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I26 habitable surface there shows evidence of occupation in the form of

depressions

numbering from two

or three to several dozen.

A

con- siderabletimerange for theoccupationsissuggested

by

thecollections recovered.

During

the latter part of

October and

through the

month

of

No- vember

1950,

and

again in the

summer

of 1951,

Lehmer

excavated a portion of the Philip

Ranch

site

(39ST14)

in the

work

area

below

the

dam and

about a mile

downstream from

the

Dodd

site. This is a verywell-preservedvillage witha ditch entirely enclosing

an

ovalarea approximately

400

^{feet long}

and 250

feet

wide

situatedat theedge of the first terrace

above

the river

bottom

(pi. 11 a). Well-defined de- pressions indicated the presenceof23 lodge^sites

and

a

few

smaller de- pressions probably

mark

the locations of cache pits.

Oddly

enough, in

view

of itsconspicuous character

and

accessibility,the siteappeared to

have

suffered

from none

of the

haphazard

but often extensive pit- ting

which

has beenthe fate of so

many

inthearea. This is probably explainable in terms of the tight sod cover

which

has prevented the outcropping of cultural debris. Several examinations of the surface prior to

1950 had

resulted in the collection of less than

50

^sherds, generally small

and

unimpressive.

Fairly extensive excavations in the area of the ditch revealed that the

bottom

^{of this feature}

was

about 6 feet beneath the present sur- face

and was

U-shaped.

Evidence was

uncovered of

an uncompleted

stockade

on

the village side of the ditch.

Ten

houses, 107 cache pits,

and 8 borrow

pits,inadditiontoa

number

ofsuch features as hearths,

were

excavated. All evidence indicates that a single occupation is

represented here.

The

houses,

none

of

which were

superimposed,

were

circular

and

generally similar to those of the late

component

at the

Dodd

site, although there

were some

differences in details.

Cache

^pitsbeneath the floors of thehouses

were numerous and were

often large.

One

unusually large house, with a double

row

^of outer posts,

had an

earthenplatformagainst the wall opposite the entrance,

presumably

indicatingaspecialized function for thelodge (pi. 11, b).

Many

of theoutsidecachepits

and borrow

pits

were found

in

an

area of the site of about 175 square yards

which was

completely stripped to reveal the relationships of features outside the houses.

No

burials

were found

within the village or in test trenches exca- vatedinthevicinity,butoccasional scattered

human

bones

were found

within the occupational deposits.

The

material culture manifested at the Philip

Ranch

site is closely related to that of the latest occupation of the

Dodd

site.

There

are

some

differences,however, in pottery

and

other traits (e.g., fortifica-

NO. 2

SALVAGE PROGRAM,

I95O-I95I

— ^COOPER 6/

tion Structures

and

greater quantities of trade materials)

which

have led

Lehmer

to suggest that it should be considered a

component

of a different focus

(Snake

Butte focus).

A somewhat

later date for this site seems to be indicated.

During

the 1951 ^season, burials

were

exposed at the Indian

Creek

site

(39ST15) by machinery

involved in construction of the access railway.

Lehmer's

party

was

ableto

remove two

of these.

The

burials

were

encountered

some

distance west of the occupational area,

which may

represent

more

thanone component. In both instances theinter-

ments were

in pits

and

the skeletons

were

articulatedexceptthatthere

was

evidence the legs

may

have been detached

from

the

body

before burial.

A

small vessel of Stanley

ware accompanied

one of the indi- viduals, while the other grave contained sherds of simple-stamped pottery

and two

tubular beads of sheetcopper.

Site

39ST1 (Cheyenne

River site) is situated

on

a point

between two

ravines,

and

partially subdivided

by

a very short third ravine, just

below

the

mouth

of the

Cheyenne

River. It has been occupied

more

than once.

On

the

upstream

side of the short ravine is a small area, partially enclosed

by

a well-defined ditch, within

which

are sev- eral circular depressions. This area has been

and

is still subjected to conditions

— ^presumably

saturation of the underlyingPierre shale

—

which

bring about severe slumping.

The

presence of

abundant

cul- turalobjects inthe

slumped

materials far

from

theedge of the intact surface testifies to an extensive occupied area prior to the drastic alteration of the terrain.

There

is evidence that this alteration, at leastinsofar as ^it hasaffectedthe archeological site, is of fairly recent origin.

At

the beginning of the twentieth century the ditch entirely enclosed

an

oval area, according to a

contemporary

observer.

Out-

side this fortification ditch are a considerable

number

of depressions, at least

some

of

which

are

markedly

oblong.

The

presenceof another ditch is suggested

by

alineardepression across the point

on which

the entire site lies

where

this point

narrows

because of the

headward

convergenceof the

two

ravines

which bound

it. Collectionspreviously

made from

the surface

and

in

minor

test trenches

had

suggested that the area within the ditch at the terrace edge representedat least pre- dominantly an occupation in the Arikara tradition

and

that the area to the southeast

had

been occupied by people with a culture related to that of the

Myers

site

(39ST10),

a nearby earth-lodge village

which had

beenpartiallyexcavated

and

reported

by

the

South Dakota

Archaeological

Commission (Hoard,

_1949).

The

Missouri Basin Project

was

able to assign a party to this site for a relatively brief period (late

June

to early

September)

in 1951,

68 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL, I26

when Waldo

R.

Wedel became

available to undertake the investiga- tions.

The

time spent

on

the excavations

was

inadequate for

more

than a beginning

on

this large

and complex

site

and

it

seems

essen- tial that extensive additional

work

be accomplished to establish the relationshipsof the

many and

varied features. In the limited time in 1951,however,

numerous

testtrenches

were

excavatedtocross-section the ditch associated with the late

component and

to determine the stratigraphic situation. Also, a

number

of exterior cache pits

were

dug,

and

five houses

were

completely or partially uncovered.

Two

circular houses within the small fortified area

were

completely exca- vated (pi. 12, b).

Each had

a central fireplace, four centerposts,

and

closely spaced posts about the periphery of the pit

which had

been excavated

below

the surface.

The

entrance passages of bothextended

toward

the river, in anortherly direction. Neither

had

been burned,

and

fragments of

unburned

timbers

were found

in the fill of both.

Some

instances of superposition

were found

in this area, butthese

do

not necessarily indicate considerable time differences since metal

was found

in

some

of the underlying features as well as inthe

upper

ones.

It appears, however, that at least one earlier occupation lies beneath thelevel associated with the circularhouses.

Inthe southeastern part of thesite,excavations

were

inthreecache pits

and

in three large depressions. All the latter

marked

the loca- tions of oblong rectanglar structures.

One,

₄₅ feet long

by

34 ^feet wide,

had

wall posts

more

widely spaced than in the

round

houses

and had

a large, partiallystone-lined fireplace

on

the long axis offset

toward

the southwall (pi. 12, a).

The

position of the entranceis un- certain. In the second house,

47

^{feet long}

by 30

feet wide, the floor

was

difficult to define

and no

fireplace or entrance

was

found.

The

excavation of the remaining house

was

notcompleted but

presumably

will be

when

it is possible to return tothe site. Overlying this struc- ture

was

a rich

midden

deposit containing pottery of the kind char- acteristic of the

Myers

site, in

which

the only house excavated

was

circular.

The

presence of material of ^this sort overlying rectangular houses

seems

to indicate that

39ST1

is a

3-component

site

and

sug- gests that

round

houses

may

be present as the dwellings associated with the second component.

No

extensive burial areas

were

found, although

some

search

was made

forthem.

Since theartifacts

from

the site are not available for examination,

no

detailed or even general statement can be

made

relative to them, except that the late component,

a compact

fortified village yielding a

moderate

quantity of trade goods, appears to be in the Arikara tra-

NO. 2

SALVAGE PROGRAM,

I95O-I95I

— ^COOPER 69

dition

and

that a

component

with pottery like that of the

Myers

site (vessels with predominantly simple flaring rims

and

incised decora- tion

on

both

body and

rim; rim decoration

most

often a series of horizontal lines) ispresent.

A 2-man

survey

team

detached

from

this unit spent several days in examination primarily of the east

bank

of the Missouri River

between

the Little

Bend and Cheyenne Agency. Some

sites

were

revisited

and

four

new

archeological locations

were

recorded in this area,

which

seems to have a considerably smaller

number

of sites

than

most

comparable stretches of the river in the

Oahe

Reservoir area.

During

one day,

two

sites in

Armstrong

County,

on

the west side of the river,

were

visited forthe first time.