Near the present day city of Bismarck, North Dakota, at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri rivers, was the homeland of the Mandan people. From about A.D. 1400 to 1750 they occupied six large villages along the rivers that consisted of substantial earthen lodges enclosed by a protective ditch. The Mandan, like their northern Plains relatives, developed an economy that combined bison hunting and maize agriculture, producing an era of prosperity. By about 1700, European traders had reached the Mandan villages and trade goods were abundant in the ruins of these villages. When Lewis and Clark arrived in 1804, the Mandan villages were abandoned, decimated by smallpox.
In this fascinating study, Mark Mitchell uses archaeology to reconstruct a history of the Mandans during the critical period before and after European contact. Combining archaeological data on pottery and stone-tool making with ethnographic and historical data, Mitchell seeks to bridge the gap between pre-history and history. In so doing, we getter a clearer view of Mandan history and European colonization and its impact on native peoples.
