STUDYING THE ARIKARA AND THEIR NEIGHBORS 

 ON THE UPPER MISSOURI 



By W. D. STRONG 



Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology 



In July, 1932, at the close of the Signal Butte excavations, the com- 

 bined Bureau of American Ethnology and Santa Fe Laboratory of 

 Anthropology field party moved 400 miles northeast to the vicinity of 

 the Grand River in northern South Dakota. A historic Arikara 

 village, designated as the Leavenworth site, which had been abandoned 

 by the Arikara in 1833, 10 years after it had been bombarded by 

 Colonel Leavenworth and his allies (fig. 74), was chosen for excava- 

 tion. A survey map of the site revealed over 150 lodge circles about 

 equally divided into two contemporaneous villages on either side of a 

 small creek, but it must be remembered that not all these houses were 

 occupied at the same time. 



We completely opened four houses, two on each side of the creek, 

 the floor plans (fig. 75) agreeing well with ethnological accounts. The 

 Arikara earth lodge differs from that of the historic Pawnee in re- 

 taining the four-post central foundation and in lacking any outer or 

 third row of posts. Entrance passageways were present in all four 

 lodges. Particularly interesting was the large medicine lodge in the 

 upper village (fig. 75) which conformed in detail to the rather elabo- 

 rate symbolism of the present-day Arikara. A number of refuse 

 heaps were trenched and several of the numerous caches or corn 

 cellars opened. An interesting representation of both aboriginal and 

 white contact material was obtained. The occasional blending and 

 substitution of old and new ideas is shown in several of the pieces 

 illustrated (fig. yj). 



Work having been well started at the Leavenworth site, Mrs. Strong 

 and I went north to Nishu in the Fort Berthold Reservation, N. Dak. 

 Here, from August 1 to 6, the Arikara held their Mother Corn and 

 allied ceremonies. The sage dance, a picturesque purification rite 

 performed by members of the medicine societies, occupied the first 

 three nights. One who has witnessed this dance in the fire-lit lodge 

 redolent with the smell of purifying sage is not likely to forget it. 

 Late evenings were filled with song contests between the societies, 

 usually culminating with feasts. Pervading all was a wealth of ritual 

 involving tobacco offerings, food offerings, and the burning of sweet- 

 grass incense. Later in the week, after elaborate ceremonies, the sacred 



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