84 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 26 various Missouri Basin institutions engaged in archeological research

were

requested

by

the National

Park

Service to lend assistance.

The

State of

South

Dakota, through the

W. ^{H. Over} Museum and

the

South Dakota

Archaeological

Commission,

put field parties into this area in both 1950

and

₁₉₅1,

and

the University of

Kansas and

the

Nebraska

State Historical Society agreedtointerrupt pursuit of their research interests in their

own

States to contribute tothe effort.

The Nebraska

institution, having undertaken the salvaging of sites in the critical

Trenton

Reservoir area in that State in 1950,

was

unable to begin

work

in Fort Randalluntil 1951, but the University of

Kansas

sentexcavation parties intothe area both years.

The

operations of the

South Dakota

Archaeological

Commission-

W. H. Over Museum

project during both seasons

were under

the supervision of

Wesley

R. Hurt, _Jr.,

who

has published reports cover- ing the complete investigations (Hurt, 1951, 1952). In 1950, a

group

of a

maximum

of 16

workers

excavated in the

Swanson

site

(39BR16),

a

compact

village

on

a

low

terraceborderingthe Missouri River bottoms approximately 6miles above Chamberlain.

When

^dis-

covered, the site

was

apparent

on

the surface as a

number

of large, conspicuous,

more

or less circular depressions

on

a small point

which was

isolated

from

the

body

of the terrace

by

a shallow linear depres- sion. Excavation revealed that a ditch approximately ₃ feet deep lay beneaththe latter feature

and

that the other depressions

were

under- lain

by

deep house floors.

No

evidence that a stockade

was

part of the defensive system

was found

in the intensive tests.

Four

houses

were

completelyuncovered

and

six miscellaneous trenches

were

exca- vated.

The

latter revealed that there

were

ⁱⁿ the site

an unknown number

of houses

whose

locations

were

not evident

on

the surface.

Although

there

was

evidence, in the intrusion of houses into cache pits

and

vice versa, that the village

had

existed for

some

time, the relative

homogeneity

of the cultural materials

and

the lack of evidence of superposition of dwelling structures suggests that the length of occupation

was

not of great magnitude.

The

typical house

was an

oblong rectangular structure,

4

to 5 feet deep, with posts rather closely spaced along the side walls

and

rarely along the ends.

A

single

row

of large posts

on

the long axis or a double

row

^{straddling the} midline constituted the other vertical

members

of the superstructure.

The

entrance

was

characterized

by

avestibule

and

a

ramp

^leading

from

it into the interior of the house.

With

one exception,

where

there

was

a single central fireplace, there

were two

hearths,both

on

the midline but situated

between

the center

and

the end walls. All in all, the structures here resemble rather

1

NO. 2

SALVAGE PROGRAM,

I95O-I95I

— ^COOPER

85 closely those of the second

component

atthe

Dodd

site, near Pierre,

Specimens found

in relative

abundance

in the fill of houses, in the cache pits,

and

on the generalvillage level indicate

heavy

reliance for subsistence

on

agriculture

and

hunting

and

rather little emphasis

on

fishing or the collection of shellfish.

The

artifact inventory, notably the pottery, together with the architecture, suggests a close relation- ship to villages

on

the

James and Big Sioux

Rivers to the east

—

among them

theMitchell

and Brandon

sites, previouslyexcavated

and

reported

by

the

W. H. Over Museum — and Hurt

has assigned the

Swanson

site, together with these others, tothe

Over

focus.

In 1951, with a

maximum

party of 13 individuals.

Hurt

reinvesti- gated

two

sites,

39GR1

(Scalp

Creek

site)

and 39GR2

(EUis

Creek

site),

which had

been partially investigated in 1941

by

the

W. H.

Over Museum,

with

WPA

assistance, but

which

required additional field study to

make

laboratory analysis

and

reporting possible.

The

Scalp

Creek

site appeared superficially to be simply a small fortified earth-lodgevillage, withperhaps 15 houses,

on

the point of a terrace cutoff

by

theremainsofaditch,but previous excavation

had

revealed thatmaterials relatingto at least

two

culturalcomplexes

were

present.

The work

during the

two

seasons, including the complete uncovering of nine earth lodges

and

the excavation of a

number

of trenches, demonstrated that a village of earth lodges is underlain

by

materials of

Woodland

affiliations.

The upper

village,surrounded

by

a stockade ofpostsspaced i to3 ^feetapart

and

defended with aditch 3 ^feetdeep

on

the side not ^protected

by

a slope, contains circular houses with central fire basin, four center posts, varying

numbers

of outer roof supports, a

row

of leaners,

and

a covered entrance passage. Unlike the situation in

many

earth-lodge villages of the region, cache pits

were

rather scarce

and were

usually small.

A

subsistence pattern based

on

agriculture

and

hunting, especially of bison, is indicated

by

the specimens recovered.

The

pottery is simple-stamped

and

deco- rated primarily

by

^incising, both

on

the rim

and

body,

and

appearsto resemble that previously recovered

and

reported

from

the

La Roche

site,

some

distance

up

the Missouri River (Meleen, 1948).

Although

there

seem

to be

some

differences, at least in proportions of various pottery types

and

perhaps in architectural

and

other traits.

Hurt

has assigned the upper

(Wheeler) component

of the Scalp

Creek

site to the

La Roche

focus.

In the lowest cultural deposits at the Scalp

Creek

site

and

at the Ellis

Creek

site, situated

on

a terrace

some

2 miles downriver, arti- facts

were

recovered

which

included pottery very similar to the cer- amics at sites

on Loseke Creek and

Eagle

Creek

in Nebraska, the

86 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL, I26

former

of

which

have been ^described

by

Kivett (1952). This pot- tery is characterized

by

decoration of the rim area, predominantly withsingle-cord-impressedlines or nodes.

Hurt

hasalsodistinguished another

component

ⁱⁿ the upper part of the

Woodland

deposits at the Scalp

Creek

site in w4iichthere are

cord-marked

vessels withflar- ing, undecorated rims (or with only the lip decorated)

and

vessels

whose

outerrimsaredecorated withhorizontal incisedortrailedlines, usually below a

band

of short impressed lines. Shallow fireplaces occurred throughout the

Woodland

level, but evidences of structures

were

absent except for

two

patternless clusters of small post

molds and

areas

which

suggested floors.

Rather

small shallow pits

were numerous, and

large bell-shaped cache pits

were

entirely absent.

No

evidence of cornor other cultivated plants

was

found, although a

few

scapula hoes

were

present.

The

suspicion that corn cultivation

was

practiced

seems

warranted, in

view

of the probable relative recency of the

complex

and, especially, in

view

of Kivett's report of corn in one of the related

Loseke Creek

sites (Kivett, 1952, p. 57).

Site

39BF3

(the Talking

Crow

site),

an

earth-lodge village

on

a

low

terrace in the

upper

part of the Fort Randall Reservoirarea, has intrigued archeologists for

some

time, primarilybecauseof the variety of the ceramic remains collected

from

its surface.

The

University of Kansas, through Carlyle S. Smith,

assumed

the responsibility for the intensive investigation of this site,

which proved upon

excavation tobe as

complex

as

was

suspected.

A

partyof a dozen to 15

workers

spent approximately

two months

each of theyears 1950

and

195^{1 in} the Talking

Crow

site

and

an additional season's

work was

planned for 1952.

By

the end of the 195^{1 field season,} seven houses, not ^all of

which were marked by

surface depressions; a refuse

mound

;

and many

cache pits

and

other features

had

been excavated

and

test trenching

had

uncovered parts of such defensive features as the bastioned ditch, stockade,

and

a

mound

that

may

have served in place of the stockade at the eastern edge of the site.

A few

burials

had

been encountered in various parts of the village.

Houses were

basically circular,with centralfireplace, four center posts, outer posts generally closely spaced

around

the perimeter,

and

vestibule entrance.

A number

of features

were found

in stratigraphic relationship,

and

the contents of the refuse

mound,

excavatedin6-inchlevels, appeared to

show

ceramic changes

from bottom

to top.

Two

^pottery wares, not previously isolated, have been described

and named by

Smith.

They

^are the Talking

Crow and Campbell

Creek

wares.

The former

is characterized

by

simple-stamped globu- larbodies, frequently

somewhat

flattenedshoulders,

and

straight high

NO. 2

SALVAGE PROGRAM,

I95O-I95I

— COOPER

87 rims

on which

the lipsare often decorated

by

impressing or notching.

Shoulders are frequently incised.

Campbell Creek ware

embraces globular vesselswith

rounded

shoulders

and

simple flaringorcollared rims. Surfaces are predominantly

cord-marked and

decoration, con- fined mainly to the rim, consists of notching or pinching of the lip

on

flaring rims

and

incising

on

collared rims. Talking

Crow ware

resembles in

many

respects the ceramics of the

Lower Loup complex

in Nebraska, while the

Campbell Creek

pottery suggests rather close affinities to that of the

Nebraska and Upper

Republican aspects.

These two

categories include thebulkof the pottery

found

ⁱⁿthe site,

butotherkinds occurinsmallernumbers.

These

includea

few

sherds of Stanley ware, predominant in sites farther

up

the river,

and some- what more ^abundant

fragments of vessels with horizontally incised rims

and

shoulders

which

are usually decorated

by

incising

and

punctating.

At

the end of the 195¹

work Smith

felt that, in addition to a late nineteenth-century

Dakota

occupation, three periods

—

^defined

^by

^pot-

tery, since other artifacts

seemed

^to be

much

the

same

throughoutthe occupation

—

^{could be}distinguishedinaculturalcontinuum.

Campbell Creek ware

predominated in the earliest period, Talking

Crow ware

in the latest, with pottery of the

two

represented in approximately equal proportions in the middle period. Small quantities of

White

trade materials

were

present in proveniences attributable to all periods. If further excavation

and

final analysis sustain Smith's im- pression, based

on

incomplete results, of continuity rather than a series of discrete occupations of the site it will be of considerable interest, since continuous occupation

would seem

to imply an unex- pected compression of the history of the ceramic types present.

Among

other things, pottery apparently closely related to the

Camp-

bell

Creek

types,

and

perhaps evenassignabletothem, occurs in other contexts without evidence of

White

contact

and

even the later pot- tery with horizontally incised rims

seems

elsewhere to beprehistoric.

Evidences ofintensive aboriginaloccupation

on

alevelterraceadja- cent to the

town

of

Oacoma,

across the Missouri

from

Chamberlain,

were

assigned the

numbers 39LM26 and 39LM27 by

the River Basin Surveys in 1947 ^and,

more

recently, the

names Sharpe

site

and Dona- hue

site by

Marvin

F. Kivett,

who

began their excavation for the

Nebraska

State Historical Society in 1951,

under an

agreement with the National

Park

Service.

The

sites, if not actually parts of a single village, appear at least to represent a single cultural complex.

A

party of five

worked

there for approximately

two months

that year.

Two

houses (onein eachof the sites)

and

apart of a^third, a refuse

88 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS

VOL. I26

mound,

a

segment

of aditch

and

stockade at

39LM26, and

a

number

of storagepits

were

excavated. Additional investigation

was

planned for 1952.

The

house remains that

were

completely uncovered

were

circular, with central fireplace, square central roof support arrange- ment, closely spaced outer posts,

and an

intermediate set of posts that did not

conform

to a well-defined pattern.

The

vestibule en- trances faced to the south

and

southeast.

The house

in

39LM26

appeared to

have

been extensively remodeled, as indicated

by

^the presence of

two

fireplaces, one intruding into the other,

and by

evi- dence of

abandonment and

filling of old post holes

and

the setting of

new

posts.

There was

evidence, too, of

an

attempt to seal off old refuse deposits

by

blanketing

them

with clay at points

where

the house walls

were

expanded. Storage pits

were

of

two

kinds, bell-

shaped

and

cylindrical.

The

walls of the

former were

often plastered with red clay, but the cylindrical pits lacked such treatment.

The

nature of the artifact inventory is consistent with

an

early contact date for the sites

and

this is borne out

by

the consistent presence of limited

amounts

of materials derived

from White

culturein the vari- ous features.

A

^large proportion of the pottery is of the Talking

Crow

Straight

Rim

type defined

by

Smith, but other Talking

Crow

types are presentalso,as are cloistered rimslikethose

from Nebraska

Lower Loup

sites.

The

sites appear to be rather closely related to thelateperiodatTalking

Crow and

probablytothelate

component

of the

Oldham

site as well. Kivett has tentatively suggested a date of notlater than 1750

and

perhaps as early as the last halfofthe seven- teenth century for the

major

occupation of the

Oacoma

sites.

His

reasonsforthisestimate

seem

valid

and

itwill besurprisingiffurther evidence does not support his suggestion.