82 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, 1 26 



latter was taken over by the earlier establishment in 1862 and was 

 thenceforth called Fort Berthold. At the present time the site is an 

 impressive one. Occupying an area of approximately three-quarters 

 of a square mile adjoining the margin of the first terrace above the 

 Missouri River bottom, it contains numerous conspicuous large de- 

 pressions and rings marking the locations of lodges and deep smaller 

 depressions which are partly filled cache pits. 



For various reasons, including the potentialities for coordinating 

 archeological and ethnographic data and for illuminating the accul- 

 turation process, the excavation of this site was deemed vital and the 

 project was undertaken by the State Historical Society of North Da- 

 kota. In 1950, a group of 8 men worked in the site from June 13 to 

 August 4, until the last week under the supervision of Glenn Klein- 

 sasser. When Mr. Kleinsasser was incapacitated by a serious acci- 

 dent, Allen C. Croft assumed supervision for the remainder of the 

 time in the field. A larger crew, consisting of a maximum of 18 work- 

 ers under the supervision of James H. Howard, returned to Like-a- 

 Fishhook for two months in 195 1, and further investigation was 

 planned for 1952. During the two seasons the sites of 12 earth lodges 

 and 2 log cabins were uncovered and a number of cache pits were 

 excavated in both the Arikara and Mandan-Hidatsa quarters of the 

 village. The lodges were all circular, with 4 center posts, 12 to 15 

 outer support posts, and a row of small leaners, but those in the Ari- 

 kara quarter differed somewhat from the others in being considerably 

 shallower and having the center posts situated closer to the outer sup- 

 ports. Entrances could not always be found, but those that were 

 defined consisted of conventional covered passages. Cache pits were 

 usually large and cistern-shaped. 



Artifacts of White manufacture were recovered in enormous quan- 

 tities and in great variety, while, as might be expected, objects of 

 native manufacture and of native materials were exceedingly scarce. 

 A few sherds and artifacts of stone and bone were found, but usually 

 in such small quantities that accidental inclusion in the deposits from 

 other sources cannot be ruled out. Even objects of White origin 

 modified by the inhabitants of the village were recovered in very 

 small numbers. Oddly enough, only two metal projectile points were 

 found. While firearms undoubtedly replaced the bow and arrow to 

 a large extent fairly early in the history of the village, it seems likely 

 that the older weapons would have been fairly numerous during the 

 first few years of occupation. It is possible that future investigations 

 will reveal more of the earlier deposits and expand the inventory of 

 native products. 



