RIVER BASIN SALVAGE PROGRAM — ROBERTS 535 



growth and development of the fortified vilhige type of community in 

 that district. Indications are that the three occupations at the Old- 

 ham site were in the period from A.D. 1500 to 1700. The economy of 

 the people was primarily based on horticulture supplemented by hunt- 

 ing and some fishing. 



Farther north in the Fort Randall area, about 31^ miles below Fort 

 Thompson, also on the east side of the Missouri River, the University 

 of Kansas under an agreement with the National Park Service 

 excavated a large site known as Talking Crow. At that location 

 evidence was found for five occupations. The latest was Siouan dating 

 from shortly after the Civil War. Prior to that was the last occupa- 

 tion by earth-lodge-building people, probably the Arikara. They 

 lived there at the time when European trade goods were beginning 

 to appear in the area, probably about A.D. 1700 to 1725. The preced- 

 ing occupation was by an ancestral group and is believed to have dated 

 from about 1600. Below that the occupation level was definitely pre- 

 historic and its cultural aflinities seem to be widespread, extending into 

 Nebraska and Kansas. The period indicated is about 1500. The 

 first inhabitants of the site belonged to a pre-earth-lodge group whose 

 affiliations have not yet been completely identified; they probably 

 were prior to A.D. 1000. The next to the last occupation appears 

 to correlate culturally with the final occupation at the Oldham site, 

 although it may be somewhat later chronologically. The material 

 from Talking Crow provides interesting information on the changes 

 which took place in the Indian culture after white influence first 

 reached them and then became increasingly predominant. The Fort 

 Randall Dam was closed in the summer of 1953, and all the sites in 

 that reservoir basin are now under w^ater. 



Upstream from the Fort Randall Reservoir basin is a second large 

 project, the Oahe Reservoir, the dam for which is approximately 6 

 miles above Pierre, S. Dak. It was closed in July 1958, and the lake 

 formed by the impounded waters will be about 265 river miles in 

 length. The area to be flooded contains the greatest concentration of 

 aboriginal remains in the entire Plains area. There were literally 

 hmidreds of earth-lodge villages, numerous temporai-y camps and 

 other occupation areas scattered along the terraces on both sides of 

 the stream in that area. The survey parties located 318 sites while 

 going over the area to be flooded. Some of them are the largest and 

 most impressive archeological locations in the United States. Thus 

 far only a few have been excavated, but the results obtained have 

 added greatly to the knowledge of aboriginal developments along 

 tluit portion of the Missouri. They also emphasize the great wealth 

 of material which still remains to be investigated. The excavation 

 at two of the sites, the Dodd and the Philip Ranch, have been de- 



679421—61 40 



