150 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 178 



relationships following the ratification of numerous separate treaties 

 and the establishment of agencies, at first often with nonresident 

 agents, on a tribal basis. The trade, in fact, is one of the most per- 

 sistent and pervasive influences upon native life in the region, over a 

 period of nearly two centuries, and the focal points of the trade are 

 the posts themselves, at the sites of which material remains may be 

 fomid for archeological study. Few studies by ethnographers or 

 historians thus far offer detailed analyses of the explicit effects of 

 White contact upon native cultures in this region, though a knowl- 

 edge of these effects is basic to any understanding of culture change 

 among these peoples. Archeological investigations may be expected 

 to yield new materials for study of these sectors of anthropology, 

 when the fieldwork has been systematically undertaken. Efforts thus 

 far made suggest little more than potential contributions to knowl- 

 edge through careful, localized studies, coupled with broader com- 

 parative studies, when these become feasible. 



Little can here be said concerning the significance of specific data 

 from excavations at the site of Fort Pierre II. It is apparent above 

 that, even beyond the almost complete lack of information concerning 

 less durable goods once used at the post, as well as larger, more highly 

 prized, or actually more valuable objects such as firearms or coins, 

 certain spheres of activity are poorly represented in either tangi- 

 ble remains or documentary records. Thus, as remarked p. 112), 

 there are few clues to the relative importance in the operation of the 

 post of work animals such as oxen, mules, or horses, or of cultivation 

 of the soil, as in kitchen gardens. Yet by the year 1859, beasts of 

 burden must have played a more important role in the supply and 

 transport of remote trading establishments than they had, perhaps, 

 20 or 30 years previous. And little of the actual subsistence of such 

 posts is now known, apart from the probability that from the outset 

 they were, perforce, largely self-sufficient during most of the year, and 

 certainly during the winter season. 



The archeological accomplishments of the present undertaking may 

 be briefly summarized. They include the follovvdng: (1) the defini- 

 tion and delimitation of the complete outline of a trading post, in- 

 cluding limited data on construction (materials, design, and construc- 

 tion methods) despite long agricultural use of the site subsequent to 

 its abandonment for trade; (2) the definition of two building sites of 

 the enclosure (probably those of a dwelling and a warehouse) and 

 the obtaining of limited architectural details of these structures; (3) 

 the systematic collection of a comprehensive (if relatively small) 

 group of informative specimens, including construction materials, 

 which illustrate the nature of the trade itself, subsistence, and shelter 

 and domestic arrangements, and reveal specific localized facts on 

 life and customs of the mid-19th century frontier (a subject even yet 



