Lower Hidatsa Village: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Regions 3, 4, & 5 Park Cultural Landscapes Program

The Lower Hidatsa Village is a component of the Knife River Indian Villages cultural landscape, defining the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. The park unit is located in central North Dakota, sixty miles north of Bismarck and adjacent to the town of Stanton. Its position along the Missouri and Knife Rivers has contributed to its character and use, and it continues to aid in the interpretation of aspects of Hidatsa Indian tribal life. The Hidatsa are known to have had both winter and summer villages. Summer villages were located on terraces above the Missouri River and near the Knife River. The convergence of the waterways formed a fertile floodplain that was suited for growing corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers. The positioning of these summer sites on terraces provided views to the expansive prairie, alerting inhabitants to migrating food sources, raiding tribes, and tribes interested in trading. Imprints of the earthlodge dwellings continue to be evident. The temporary winter camps of the Hidatsa were located on the forested floodplain of the Missouri, providing more ample food, shelter, wood, and water. Lower Hidatsa Village, a summer village site occupied by a sub-group of the tribe, is one of the longest continuously occupied sites on the upper Missouri. Inhabited by the Awatixa, the 10-acre site has 51 surface depressions that denote the location of former earthlodges. In addition to the earthlodge footprints, linear mounds, midden piles, cache pits, a small agricultural area, periphery zones, off-village activity areas, and cemeteries define this site near the Knife River. The period of significance for Lower Hidatsa Village is 1525 to 1785, representing the years of occupation. This is within the parent landscape’s period of significance (1000-1885), as identified in the cultural landscape inventory (CLI).The Lower Hidatsa Village is part of the existing National Register Nomination for a discontiguous archeological district focusing on a period of significance between 5,000 BC and 1861. The preserved features and ethnohistoric documentation make this a unique Native American site in the Great Plains. Additionally, the site suggests Hidatsa associations with the Plains trading networks, the fur trade, and American exploration of the West. The villages show the influences of trade developments, significant epidemics, and changing material culture. Overall, the condition of the component landscape is good, and it maintains integrity. The inventory units were found to retain the location, setting, feeling, and association with the time of Hidatsa occupation, based on inventory levels and site visits conducted by the CLI team. Evidence to reinforce the integrity of the cultural landscape can be found in the many journal descriptions that date back to the fur trade era. Although the Hidatsa and their earthlodges are no longer extant, imprints left on the landscape provide modern visitors a sense of place similar to that experienced by traders, explorers, and artist who frequented the villages. Many features documented for the CLI are previously studied surface archeological features. Earthlodge depressions, travois trails, midden piles, views, fortification ditches, linear mounds, and other features have been studied by archeologists for National Register documentation. The Village landscape is important because of the contextual setting it provides, as it retains sufficient above-ground features to illustrate the physical spatial organization of the society and the relationships between the various villages and natural settings. Additionally, the landscape encompasses and protects historic use areas; some that are archeological, like travois trails and cemeteries, and others where the historic use is no longer evident. The landscape preserves the open character of the village, even though the historic land uses are not intact.

Lower Hidatsa Village: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

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