Knife River Indian Villages Archeological Program: An Overview

Author(s): Francis A. Calabrese

Year: 1979

Summary

The Knife River Indian Villages are located in North Dakota near the confluence of the Knife and Missouri Rivers, just north of the contemporary town of Stanton, North Dakota. A number of relatively undisturbed archeological sites occur along this stretch of river, an area which historically was the homeland of both the Hidatsa and Mandan Indians. The Knife River Indian Villages are the northernmost cluster of sites. They are the final major village complex representing the pinnacle of Hidatsa and Mandan cultural development in an unbroken occupational sequence spanning at least the preceding five centuries.

Historically the villages are rich in associations with prominent figures in the history of the American westward expansion as well as the earlier fur trade era. There is a wealth of historical data pertaining to the Lewis and Clark visits to the villages (1804-1806) and later documentation by the famous artists George Catlin and Karl Bodmer (1832-1834). Throughout this period the Hidatsa and Mandan were affected dramatically by the Euro-American influence resulting in unparalled change and innovation in both material culture and social organization.

Cite this Record

Knife River Indian Villages Archeological Program: An Overview. Francis A. Calabrese. 1979 ( tDAR id: 25051) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8MG7RN2

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

Keywords

Culture
Arikara • Euroamerican • Hidatsa • Plains Village

Site Name
Amahami Village • Big Hidatsa Village • Buchfink Village • Knife River Indian Villages • Low Hidatsa Village • Sakakawea Village

Site Type
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features • Hamlet / Village • Resource Extraction / Production / Transportation Structure or Features • Road, Trail, and Related Structures or Features • Settlements • Trail

Investigation Types
Collections Research • Data Recovery / Excavation • Ethnographic Research • Ethnohistoric Research • Historic Background Research • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Burial Grounds • Cartographic Survey • Horticulturalists • Magnetic Survey • Smallpox

Geographic Keywords
38057 (Fips Code) • Mercer (County) • Middle Missouri River • Missouri River Valley • North America (Continent) • North Dakota (State / Territory) • United States of America (Country)

Temporal Keywords
Late Archaic • Post Contact

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 1675 to 1862 (AD)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -102.206; min lat: 46.981 ; max long: -101.257; max lat: 47.575 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Anne Vawser

Contributor(s): F. A. Calabrese

Record Identifiers

NADB document id number(s): 923176

NADB citation id number(s): 000000121689

Notes

General Note: This resource originated from a citation record migrated into tDAR from the National Archaeological Database Reports Module (NADB-R). NADB identification numbers are included in the Document Identifiers section of this resource.

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
MWAC-Report_Calabrese_Overview-of-KNRI_1979.pdf 896.76kb Jun 7, 2015 10:39:36 AM Public