Arzberger site

Last updated

Arzberger site
Arzberger Site.jpg
Countryside at the site
LocationAddress restricted [1]
Nearest city Pierre, South Dakota
NRHP reference No. 66000715 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966
Designated NHLJuly 19, 1964 [3]

The Arzberger site, designated by archaeologists with the Smithsonian trinomial 39HU6, is a major archaeological site in Hughes County, near Pierre, South Dakota. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. [3] It is a large fortified village, that is the type site for the Initial Coalescent, a culture that flourished in the area c. 1200-1350 CE. [4]

Contents

Site description

The Arzberger site is located on a terrace overlooking the east bank of the Missouri River, about 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Pierre. The site is that of a fortified village, which originally had a wooden stockade encircling an area of about 44 acres (18 ha). The stockade was fortified with 24 bastions, and there were 44 house structures inside it. [4]

Although the site is considered the type site for the Initial Coalescent, it appears temporally late in the sequence of sites now associated with that cultural phase, and may be one of its final outposts. Its people appear to have disappeared from the region not long afterward, supplanted by the Middle Missouri culture. It is not far from the Crow Creek Site, the scene of a major massacre in the 1300s. [4]

The site was first excavated in 1939 by William Duncan Strong and Albert Spaulding, at which time portions of the fortification ditch, one bastion, and four houses were excavated. [4] Of the houses excavated, two were typical circular earth lodge, while one was more rectangular in shape, a style more typically found in North Dakota. The houses included fire pits and cache pits, the latter found both inside and outside the structures. Pottery finds, according to Strong, were of a style that appears ancestral to both the Arikara to the north and the Pawnee to the south. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztalan State Park</span> United States historic place

Aztalan State Park is a Wisconsin state park in the Town of Aztalan, Jefferson County. Established in 1952, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park covers 172 acres (70 ha) along the Crawfish River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crow Creek massacre</span> United States historic place

The Crow Creek massacre occurred around the mid-14th century AD and involved Native American groups at a site along the upper Missouri River in the South Dakota area; it is now within the Crow Creek Indian Reservation. Crow Creek Site, the site of the massacre near Chamberlain, is an archaeological site and a U.S. National Historic Landmark, located at coordinates 43°58′48″N 99°19′54″W. An excavation of part of the site was done in the 1950s, at the time of dam construction on the river. Additional excavations were conducted in 1978 and later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Village State Preserve</span> United States historic place

Indian Village State Preserve, or the Wittrock Indian Village State Preserve, is a state archaeological preserve near Sutherland, Iowa. The 6-acre (2.4 ha) property preserves the Indian Village Site (13OB4), a prehistoric fortified village of the Mill Creek culture. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and made a state preserve in 1968. It is located east of Sutherland, south of 455th Street and west of Yellow Avenue. Access to the preserve requires crossing private land.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hagen Site</span> United States historic place

The Hagen Site, also designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 24DW1, is an archaeological site near Glendive in Dawson County, Montana. The site, excavated in the 1930s, is theorized to represent a rare instance of a settlement from early in the period in which the Crow and Hidatsa Native American tribes separated from one another. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menoken Indian Village Site</span> United States historic place

The Menoken Indian Village Site, also known as Menoken Site, Verendrye Site or Apple Creek Site is an archeological site near Bismarck, North Dakota. The site, that of a fortified village occupied c. 1300, is important in the region's prehistory, as it is one of the only sites that predates sites that are more clearly associated with the historic Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara cultures. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. It is located on 171st Street NE, north of Menoken, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Bismarck. The site managed by the state as the Menoken Indian Village State Historic Site, and is open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huff Archeological Site</span> United States historic place

The Huff Archeological Site is a prehistoric Mandan village in North Dakota dated around 1450 AD. It was discovered in the early 1900s. The site has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and is one of the best preserved sites of the period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Accokeek Creek Site</span> United States historic place

Accokeek Creek Site, also known as Moyaone, is an archaeological site in Prince George's County, Maryland, located along the Potomac River across from Mount Vernon in today's Piscataway Park, which was inhabited intermittently since 2000 BC. Accokeek Creek Site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Signal Butte</span> United States historic place

Signal Butte is a major prehistoric archaeological site in rural western Nebraska. Designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 25SF1, it was one of the first pre-contact Native American sites to be formally investigated in the central plains. The archaeological sites are located atop the eponymous butte west of Robidoux Pass and Gering, Nebraska. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1961. The site is not open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leary Site</span> Archaeological site in Nebraska, US

Leary Site, also known as 25-RH-1 or Leary-Kelly Site is an archaeological site near Rulo, Nebraska and the Big Nemaha River. The site now lies entirely on the reservation of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. The area was once a village and burial site.

The Vanderbilt Archeological Site is an archaeological site located on the shore of Lake Oahe in Campbell County, South Dakota, near Pollock, South Dakota. The site contains the remains of a Native American Plains village which has been tentatively dated to about 1300 AD. Despite the fact that the site is subject to erosive destruction from wave action on the lake, it has been determined likely to yield significant information about the movements and living patterns of prehistoric Native Americans in the region. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloom Site</span> United States historic place

The Bloom Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 39HS1, is an archaeological site in Hanson County, South Dakota. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langdeau Site</span> United States historic place

The Langdeau Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 39LM209, is an archaeological site in Lyman County, South Dakota, near Lower Brule. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The site was one of the first to provide evidence of horticultural activity by Native Americans in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitchell Site</span> United States historic place

The Mitchell Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 39DV2, is an important archaeological site in Mitchell, Davison County, South Dakota. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. At that time it was the only reliably dated site of the Lower James River Phase. The site, sheltered under a dome, is managed by a nonprofit organization and is open to the public as Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. Visitors can watch archaeologists uncover artifacts in the Thomsen Center Archeodome. The Boehnen Memorial Museum features a reconstructed lodge and many of the artifacts found at the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molstad Village</span> United States historic place

Molstad Village, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 39DW234, is an archaeological site in Dewey County, South Dakota, United States, near the city of Mobridge. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964. The site contains the remains of a small fortified Native America village, consisting of earth lodges surrounded by a bastioned palisade, with further lodges scattered in the area outside the fortification. Evidence gathered at the site indicates it was occupied for a relatively brief period in the mid-1500s CE, and was assigned to the Chouteau aspect of Middle Missouri taxonomy, later known as the Extended Coalescent phase. Four lodge sites were excavated in the early 1960s, uncovering post holes and cache pits, one of which contained skull-less human remains. Finds at the site included pottery fragments and stone tools. Bone tools were also found, including plows made from bison shoulder blades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Thompson Mounds</span> United States historic place

The Fort Thompson Mounds are a complex of ancient archaeological sites in Buffalo County, South Dakota, near Fort Thompson and within the Crow Creek Reservation. Declared a National Historic Landmark in 1964 by the US Department of Interior, the mound complex extends for a distance of about 6 miles (9.7 km) along the east bank of the Missouri River. It is one of the largest known complex of burial mounds in the Plains region north of Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in Hughes County, South Dakota</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hughes County, South Dakota.

The Biesterfeldt Site is an archaeological site near Lisbon, North Dakota, United States, located along the Sheyenne River. The site is the only documented village of earth lodges in the watershed of the Red River, and the only one that has been unambiguously affiliated with the Cheyenne tribe. An independent group of Cheyennes is believed to have occupied it c. 1724–1780. In 1980, the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its archaeological significance. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Register of Historic Places listings in New Madrid County, Missouri</span>

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in New Madrid County, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kimball Village</span> United States historic place

Kimball Village is an archaeological site located in the vicinity of Westfield, Iowa, United States. It is one of six known Big Sioux phase villages from the Middle Missouri tradition that existed between 1100-1250 C.E. The site, located on a terrace overlooking the Big Sioux River, has well-preserved features, including earth lodge and storage pits, and evidence of fortifaction. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010, and as a National Historic Landmark in 2016.

References

  1. Federal and state laws and practices restrict general public access to information regarding the specific location of this resource. In some cases, this is to protect archeological sites from vandalism, while in other cases it is restricted at the request of the owner. See: Knoerl, John; Miller, Diane; Shrimpton, Rebecca H. (1990), Guidelines for Restricting Information about Historic and Prehistoric Resources, National Register Bulletin, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, OCLC   20706997 .
  2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Arzberger Site". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved June 14, 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Gibbons, Guy, ed. (1998). Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia. p.  34. ISBN   9780815307259.
  5. Strong, William Duncan (August 1972). "From History to Prehistory on the Northern Great Plains". Plains Anthropologist (Volume 17, No. 57): 353–394. JSTOR   25667085.