River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 36: Archeological Investigations at the Hickey Brothers Site (39LM4), Big Bend Reservoir, Lyman County, South Dakota

The Hickey Brothers site (39LM4) was excavated during the summer of 1958 as part of the investigations of the Missouri Basin Project, Smithsonian Institution, within the projected Big Bend Reservoir of central South Dakota. The site was approached with every expectation of adding materially to the corpus of data bearing upon the "middle period" of village occupation along the Missouri main stem. The Hickey Brothers site appeared to be particularly important because it was fortified in a distinctive manner and the fortification system was so well preserved. Unfortunately, the site remains an enigma. The results of the intensive excavations of 1958 were disappointing, even shocking. An insignificant number of artifacts was found, and beyond a detailed coverage of bastion construction, there was little evidence of architectural features.