Warren W. Caldwell

Fortified Villages In the Northern Plains

The varied defensive systems of vil lages in the northern Plains are used as the basis for an inference of change in the patterns of warfare. From the time of first contact by Eu ropean and American travelers, the for tified villages of the sedentary horticul tural Indians, who lived along the Mis souri River in what today are the states of North and South Dakota, have been a matter for speculation and comment. Some have sought an exotic origin for them and indeed, the similarities to cer tain fortified camps and castles of early medieval Europe are worthy of note. Much more to the point, however, the known prehistoric change s in fortification systems compel an awareness of the dy namics of precontact cultures in the Plains. The thesis presented here (and obviously it is not entirely novel) is that the fortification systems reflect, not only changes in the pattern of warfare, but suggest profound changes in the orienta tion of Plains cultural groups as well. The village communities visited by traders and travele rs during the 18th and 19th centuries, while impressive in their own manner, were only shadows of what they had once been. By 1800, the village people were in a precarious condition, decimated by smallpox and warfare, and their culture in a state of progressive disorganization. The once numerous Arikara bands were compressed into three composite villages a short distance, above the Grand River and the Mandan, Hidatsa and cognate groups were living in a small group of towns near the Knife River to the north. While these villages were fortified, or were so for the most pa t, they lacked both the complexities nd military sophistication of an earlier day. Prior to A. D. 1300, and perhaps be ginning as early as the 9th or 10th cen tury, much of the area within the trench of the Missouri was held by a number of related peoples, now comprised within the Over, Monroe, Anderson and several unnamed Foci, whose subsistence was based in a mixed economy of maize hor ticulture and bison hunting, and who lived Presented at the 1963 meeting of the Society for American Archeology, Boulder, Colorado.

Carved Atlatl from Northwest Coast

On June 7, 1952, the writers were shown the artifact, seen in Figure 70, by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Johnson of La Conner, Washington. According to the informants, the artifact was dredged from the mouth of the Northwest distributary of the Skagit River near its confluence with the Straits of Georgia (about forty-five miles north of Seattle). The artifact is about forty centimeters long and approximately eleven centimeters in maximal height. It is carved from wood of an unknown origin. The raised grain and deep checks suggest long continued immersion subsequent to the execution of the carving.

The Black Partizan Site (39Lm218), Big Bend Reservoir: South Dakota: A Preliminary Report

The 31ack bartizan Site,a large for tified village situated in the con stricted neck of the Big Bend of the Missouri Hiver, Lyman County, South Dakota, was excavated by field parties of the Missouri. Basin Project, Smith sonian Institution, during the field seasons of 1957 and 1958. In total, 15> structures or areas designated as features were investi gated. These included 3 midden areas, concentrations of cache pits,sectional cuts through the defensive ditch, and a bastion strong point.Four large cir cular houses were investigated, 2 in an area just outside of the fortified perimeter and 2 within the village proper. An additional house, probably square, and another of indeterminate outline were also excavated from the latter area. The artifact collection is large and varied, but to date, only the ceramic sample has been examined in detail. Slightly less than 17,000 sherds were excavated, of which 2U00 were rim sec tions the latter have been tentative ly classified as follows: Russel Ware (plain, diagonal,horizontal incising), Campbell Creek ware,Talking Crow Ware, Arzberger, and other collared rims. On the basis of ceramics and archi tectural remains, components related to both the Campbell Creek and Fort Thompson Foci are surely present. A further occupation, poorly defined as yet,seems to equate to Talking Crow C. The initial reconnaissance of the project ed Big Bend Reservoir of central South Da kota, carried out during the summer of 1956 by the Missouri Basin Project, Smith sonian Institution, indicated an important group of village sites concentrated along the eastern margin of the hairpin loop forming the downstream end of the Big Bend of the Missouri. These sites appar ently represented several distinctive oc cupationsj at least 2 of them, the Hickey Brothers Site (39LM4) and the Black Parti zan Site, were elaborately fortified. Dur ing the 1957 and 1958 field seasons, the Black Partizan Site, the largest of the group, was excavated by Smithsonian Institution field parties under direction of the writer. In the course of the first season, only 2 earth lodges were exca vated; and these, unfortunately, lay out side of the defensive perimeter. Despite a diligent search involving testing and trenching on an extended scale, no house structures could be found within the forti fied area. In 1958 with the heavy weed growth within the village proper diminish ed by near drought conditions, it was pos sible to find and excavate 4 houses and a number of other features. In addition, further midden tests and sectional cuts were made through the fortification ditch. At this time, the excavated materials have not been analyzed in detail, but it is apparent that at least 2 and perhaps 3 components are present. It is also evi dent that there is a close relationship to the Arzberger and Talking Crow Sites, and to a number of the more distinctly LaRoche-like sites of the middle Miss ouri. While the details of the relation ship have not been outlined as yet, a pre liminary statement seems to be very much in order.