Middle Missouri Research Articles

Initial Middle Missouri in Western South Dakota: a Summary

Recent fieldwork has led to the identification of several Initial Middle Missouri sites in western South Dakota. These sites appear to fit the historic period model of seasonal excursions from the Middle Missouri villages to the west for hunting and lithic resource procurement. The relatively low number of identified Initial Middle Missouri sites in western South Dakota may be a function of finding pottery in sites, not in the actual number of Initial Middle Missouri sites. The issue is raised of the failure to identify Plains Village sites off-trench, when these sites do not contain ceramics.

The Randall Phase Component at the Dirt Lodge Village Site9 Spink County, South Dakota: Late Woodland/Early Plains Village Transitions on the Northeastern Plains

Res. d'A. The Randall phase dates to about AD 1150 and represents a regional Late Woodland cultural expression in the Southern portion of the Northeastern Plains. It shows similarities to Great Oasis and Initial Middle Missouri variant sites of the Plain Village tradition. Data from the Late Plain Woodland component at the Dirt Lodge Village site (39SP11) are used to define Randall phase. The Rose Hill Village site (39HD4), the Wolf Creek Mounds site (39HT30), and the Randall phase component at the Scalp Creek site (39GR1) all appear to be assignable to the Randall phase

Ceramic Beads From the Huston-fox Site, Meade County, South Dakota and Notes on the Good River Complex

Ext de res. d'A.: Several ceramic beads of varying sizes and shapes have been recovered from the Huston-Fox site (39MD133). This Extended Middle Missouri site is on a terrace overlooking the Belle-Fourche River in northwestern South Dakota. While there is some correlation between the pottery and other artifacts from this site and at least one other site (39BU217) in western South Dakota.

The Middle Missouri Tradition in Minnesota: a Review

The Middle Missouri Tradition in Minnesota: a Review

Episodic Climatic Events and Mill Creek Culture Change: an Alternative Explanation

Explanations of cultural changes in Mill Creek culture, the best known Initial variant manifestation of the Middle Missouri tradition, have relied in the past on climatic shifts, particularly around AD 1200. It is argued that an episodic climatic event cannot account for the observed transitions in the large ungulate procurement strategies. An alternate model based on central-place foraging theory is proposed which incorporates resource depletion and the cost-reducing strategy of distant game hunting. Terminal occupation of the Mill Creek area in Iowa is viewed in the context of conflict with more mobile Oneota groups competing for bison resources.

Select Exotic Artifacts From Cattle Oiler (39St224): a Middle Missouri Tradition Site in Central South Dakota

Ext de res. d'A.: The Cattle Oiler site, (39ST224), in the Big Bend Reservoir Area of South Dakota, contains Initial and Extended components of the Middle Missouri tradition as well as a component of the Extended Coalscent variant. Exotic artifacts, i.e., specimens whose provenances are outside the Missouri River bassin in South Dakota, are describe and evaluated

Acculturation in the Middle Missouri Valley as Reflected in Modified Bone Assemblages

During the process of contact, the Plains Village peoples of the Middle Missouri Valley were exposed to repeated smallpox epidemics and the introduction of Euro-American technology. This article traces the resulting process of acculturation through analysis of changes in bone tool assemblages from three Hidatsa earthlodge villages at the mouth of the Knife River in central North Dakota. Test excavations were carried out at Lower Hidatsa (32ME10), Sakakawea (32ME11), and Big Hidatsa (32ME12) villages, all ofwhich were occupied by subgroups ofthe Hidatsa prior to and during the period of Euro American contact. A total of 737 bone tools recovered from the three sites were analyzed using provenience, component, and other tool-specific variables. The modified bone from all three sites was then combined into one continuous sequence from A.D. 1400-1845 and correlated with the Indirect, Middlemen, and Direct periods ofthefitr trade. On the basis of this analysis, substantial social disruptions among the Hidatsa are postulated prior to actual contact, with an increasing level of dependence upon Euro-American traders after contact.

Radiocarbon Dating of the Western Initial Middle Missouri Variant: Some New Dates and a Critical Review of Old Dates

Recently obtained radiocarbon dates for the Plains Village tradition, Initial Middle Missouri variant components at the Antelope Dreamer (39LM146) and the Stony Point (39ST235) village sites indica...

Changing prehistoric Settlement along The middle Missouri river:

Archaeologists have proposed three alternative explanations for the expansion and shifts of sedentary villagers along the Middle Missouri during the period AD 900 to 1550: 1) intensification of exc...

Toward a Processual Understanding of the Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri Tradition: The Case of the Mill Creek Culture of Iowa

If research on the Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri tradition is to progress, more attention must be given to the development of a processual understanding of the groups represented. This article provides a discussion of the Mill Creek culture as it has been formulated through the culture-history approach. The background information is provided as a means of gaining insights into factors of processual significance that can be investigated deductively. The paper then presents a model of Mill Creek culture process and suggests hypotheses that are believed to have broad implications for understanding the causes of change and interaction within the Initial Variant.

The Wittrock Excavations: Implications for the Study of Culture Process within the Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri Tradition

The Wittrock National Historic Landmark site is a fortified Mill Creek village in northwest Iowa. Although it has been excavated on four occasions, detailed reports on the two most extensive projects have only recently been made available. The purpose of this article is to utilize data derived from the Wittrock site to inform models of Mill Creek midden formation and Mill Creek culture process recently proposed by Anderson (1985a; 1985b). The article concludes that 1) the Wittrock midden resulted from the “banked house” method of trash dispersal; 2) a series of changes are warranted in Anderson's model of Mill Creek culture process; and 3) the Mill Creek model has a bearing on our understanding of the entire Initial Variant of the Middle Missouri Tradition.

Armoring and Sorting Simulation in Alluvial Rivers

Formulations for bed armoring and hydraulic sorting of bed sediments in alluvial streams are developed, and an application to Missouri River bed evolution is presented. A relation for the areal coverage factor for armoring on a plane bed is first formulated as a function of degradation depth and bedmaterial characteristics, and is then modified by introducing correction factors for the effect of bed forms and the stochastic nature of sediment motion. For the simulation of hydraulic sorting, bed sediments are assumed to be mixed homogeneously in a mixed‐layer depth approximately equal to average bedform height, and the composition of mixed‐layer materials is adjusted to satisfy the continuity equation for each sediment size fraction. These formulations are applied in a 20‐year simulation of bed degradation in the middle Missouri River reach downstream of Gavins Point Dam. It is found that the simulated bedsediment composition, including the two‐layer structure comprising the top armor coat and the underlying finer sediments, is in good agreement with the observed Missouri River bed characteristics.

Simulation of Missouri River Bed Degradation

The future course of bed degradation in the middle Missouri River has been predicted using numerical simulation techniques. The simulation required development of the new Total Load Transport Model (TLTM), which incorporates the interdependence of friction factor and sediment transport through data‐based empirical relations. TLTM was implemented in a mathematical simulation model called IALLUVIAL, which computes quasi‐steady water and sediment flow in natural rivers having nonuniform bed sediments. IALLUVIAL also incorporates bed‐sediment sorting and armoring, which are processes of fundamental importance to the future course of Missouri River degradation. IALLUVIAL was first validated through simulation of the 1960–1980 severe degradation in the Missouri River between Sioux City, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. Subsequently IALLUVIAL was used to predict 1980–2000 degradation for several river‐management scenarios. The simulations suggest that the worst of the degradation is now over, and that it is the channelization, rather than upstream regulation, which is primarily responsible for the degradation. A companion paper describes the details of IALLUVIAL's armoring and sorting simulation procedures.

The Skeleton of an Elderly Woman from the Crow Creek Site and its Implications for Paleodemography

The skeleton of an elderly woman, excavated from a mound near the Crow Creek Village (39BF11), is described. From all indications, the skeleton is the oldest individual reported of the thousands of skeletons recovered from archaeological sites in the Middle Missouri region. Based on this skeleton, and ethnohistoric and other evidence, it appears that elderly individuals have either not been recovered archae ologically, hence are under-enumerated, or have been recovered but under-aged. The results of under enumeration and under-ageing of these elderly in dividuals on the life table approach to paleodemography are explored. Under-ageing has relatively little influence on the resulting life table, but under-enumeration may have a pronounced effect.

Time, Space, and Cultural Tradition as Factors in Lithic Resource Exploitation in the Middle Missouri Subarea

An analysis of the chipped stone tools from 19 Middle Missouri and Coalescent tradition components from the Middle Missouri subarea of the Plains indicates that their time of occupation, location, and taxonomic assignment are associated with variations in lithic raw material exploitation. The results generally support earlier conclusions that the Middle Missouri tradition villagers relied more extensively on non locally available Knife River flint compared with Coalescent tradition peoples. The data also indicate that Initial Middle Missouri components contain relatively more Knife River flint than comparable Extended Middle Missouri villages although there is a “falloff” in the exploitation of this material among Initial Middle Missouri villages with increasing distance from its resource area. Coalescent populations, on the other hand, relied more on local materials and other nonlocal resources such as flattop and plate chalcedonies compared to Middle Missouri tradition groups. Among Coalescent tradition villages in the Grand-Moreau region, there is a decrease in the use of nonlocal materials through time with a corresponding increase in the exploitation of local resources. In the lower Bad-Cheyenne and Big Bend regions to the south, variation in the utilization of· nonlocal materials during the Protohistoric period is related to a village’s proximity to tributaries of the Missouri River which drain the resource areas containing these materials. The changes in all three regions during the Protohistoric period are thought to be a consequence of an increase in trade and warfare.

Evidence for Aboriginal Tobaccos in Eastern North America

SEM micrographs of seeds from four tobaccos historically cultivated by aboriginal groups in the Eastern Woodlands and adjacent Great Plains of North America are presented. The tobaccos considered are Nicotiana rustica L., N. attenuata Torr., N. bigelovii var. quadrivalvis (Pursh) East, and N. bigelovii var. multivalvis (Lindley) East. Micrographs of seeds from herbarium collections are compared with micrographs of carbonized tobacco seeds from the Extended Middle Missouri component at the Travis I site, and tobacco is reported from the Dirt Lodge Village site, both in South Dakota. The archaeological specimens compare most favorably with N. bigelovii var. quadrivalvis (Pursh) East, the tobacco historically cultivated by the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa. These results strengthen the evidence for trade contacts and cultural interaction by Middle Missouri tradition populations with groups to the west and provide new data on the temporal perspective for the cultivation of N. bigelovii var. quadrivalvis (Pursh) East in the Middle Missouri subarea.

Temporal And Geographic Patterning of Relative Head Height in The Central Plains And Middle Missouri Areas

Temporal and geographic patterning of vault height evaluated as the Auricular Mean Height Index is examined in samples of crania from the Central and Northern Plains. Crania are placed into two lar...

Ceramics From the Highwalker Site: a Study of Late Prehistoric Period Cultural Systematics on the Northwestern Plains

The Highwalker site is a two component prehistoric encampment located in the Pine Parklands region of southeastern Montana. The Late Prehistoric period occupation represents a briefly used, special purpose site occupied by a Native American group primarily engaged in the final butchering of bison and the processing of its by-products. Two radiocarbon samples date the Late Prehistoric period occupation between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1100. Ceramics recovered from this component shed some light on the debate concerning Pottery and Late Prehistoric period cultural systematics. The ceramics represent the earliest known representatives of a localized Powder River Basin pottery tradition which appears to be related to Extended Middle Missouri Tradition ceramics. These nomadic Powder River Basin ceramic-using groups maintained contact with the Middle Missouri village farmers and were influenced by their pottery technology. Later when the ethnographically known Crow moved into the area, the Powder River Basin hunting groups either were amalgamated into Crow society or were driven from the area.

Inferring History From Crania: Biological Distance Comparisons Of Mill Creek And Early Middle Missouri Tradition Crania With Mandan And Arikara Population Samples

Craniometric data are used to compare available human crania from Mill Creek and early Middle Missouri Tradition sites with a pooled Mandan sample and Coalescent Tradition samples from Crow Creek, Mobridge and hygh (inferred proto-Arikara). Discrim inant functions are computed for the reference samples, and test cases are classified according to their proximity to each population centroid. With one exception, early Middle Missouri Tradition site crania compare most favorably with Mandan. Mill Creek site specimens are unlike the Mandan, most closely resembling early Coalescent samples.

The Sport Fishery of the Unchannelized and Channelized Middle Missouri River

Abstract A catch survey of 502 km of the Missouri River was conducted from July 1, 1972 to June 30, 1973. The study area encompassed the Gavins Point Dam tailwaters (6.4 km), 84 km of unchannelized river and 412 km of channelized river. The fishery supported 412,660 angler hours (98,252 angling days) valued at $720,047. Anglers averaged 0.47 and 0.33 fish/h for annual catch and harvest rates, respectively. Catch rate includes fish not kept. The greatest angling effort and harvest occurred in the tailwaters, but the unchannelized river supported the highest annual catch and harvest rates. 0.72 and 0.50 fish/h. The unchannelized river also exceeded the channelized river in angler-hours/km, number of fish caught/km, weight harvested (kg/km), and average size of creeled fish. Sauger, channel catfish, and white bass were the most abundant species creeled in the unchannelized river compared to carp, channel catfish, and freshwater drum in the channelized section. The harvest rates indicated that the standing cr...