Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (32WI17), Material Culture Reports, Part X: Native American Burials and Artifacts

Steven De Vore; William J. Hunt, Jr.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (32WI17), Material Culture Reports, Part X: Native American Burials and Artifacts

Author(s): Steven De Vore; William J. Hunt, Jr.

Year: 1994

Summary

Fort Union, the headquarters of American Fur Company's Upper Missouri Outfit, dominated the region's fur and bison robe trade from 1828 to 1865. The Minneapolis-based North Western Fur Company operated the trading post from 1865 to 1867 and the U.S. Army had a contingent of soldiers there from 1864 to 1865. In 1867, the Army bought and razed Fort Union for building materials in the construction of Fort Buford, a new infantry post two miles to the east. In 1965, Congress designated Fort Union a National Historic Site and stewardship of the property was delegated to the National Park Service (NPS). Shortly thereafter, the NPS inaugurated a series of archaeological investigations to acquire information to aid in the post's reconstruction and to salvage archaeological data from portions of the site which would be threatened by future construction. During that work, human remains were recovered in several test locations in and outside the post. Burial contexts and funerary goods place interment sometime after Fort Union's occupation. Analysis of the skeletal material is directed toward determining the minimum number of individuals represented as well as identifying each individual's age, sex, pathology, probable cause of death, and general ethnic affinity. Historic documents provide additional clues to their identities.

An upshot of these efforts was the 1986 inauguration of a report series entitled Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (32WIl7) Material Culture Reports produced by the National Park Service's Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC). Nine volumes have been published or are in preparation prior to the release of this volume, each focusing on a different subject or material object class. Part I is the foundation of the series, providing an overview and critical assessment of the fieldwork accomplished during the four seasons of work at the site. Each of the remaining reports relates to one or more particular material culture classes; i.e., food-related artifacts (Part II); personal and recreational materials (Part III); firearms, trapping, and fishing equipment (Part IV); buttons (Part V); vertebrate faunal remains (Part VI); building and construction materials (Part VII); artifacts associated with transportation, commerce and industry, and unidentified functions (Part VIII - in preparation); and personal, domestic, and architectural artifacts (Part IX). Although only nine parts were originally planned for the series, a decision to produce this tenth volume came about partly because new information became available relating to the Fort Union burials. However, it was primarily driven by the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act, which requires federal agencies to compile information on Native American burials and associated objects.

Cite this Record

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site (32WI17), Material Culture Reports, Part X: Native American Burials and Artifacts. Steven De Vore, William J. Hunt, Jr.. Material Culture Reports. Lincoln, Nebraska: United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Midwest Archeological Center. 1994 ( tDAR id: 92504) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8W66KGB