214 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY tBiiU. 194 



elsewhere. Their large traditional village at the mouth of the Knife 

 River indicates a period of long residence; probably since 1550 or 1600. 

 Their traditions are largely concerned with the later settlement of the 

 other Hidatsa groups on the Missouri River, and the Crow groups on 

 the adjacent Plains. Neither does the Hidatsa-River Crow migra- 

 tion tradition supply us with positive evidence of pressure from eastern 

 groups as the basis for then* westward movement. However, the 

 traditionally late westward movement of the Awaxawi and the 

 Hidatsa-River Crow indicates a general abandonment of the territory 

 east and northeast of the Missouri about the time firearms were first 

 introduced to tribes in the Winnipeg and Great Lakes area. 



Except for the traditional village site of the Awatixa at the mouth 

 of the Knife River, none of the traditional Hidatsa-proper or Awaxawi 

 sites on the Missouri show evidence of great antiquity. On the 

 basis of pottery types represented in these sites, it has been possible 

 to distinguish them from those of the adjacent Mandan and to indicate 

 that during their residence on the Missouri these Hidatsa village 

 groups were both sedentary and agricultural. Except for short 

 periods, their agricultural villages were at or below the mouth of 

 the KJnife River, although the same pottery complex is widely distrib- 

 uted in hunting camp sites upstream along the Missouri and the 

 Lower Yellowstone as well as on tributaries (such as the Little 

 Missouri and the Powder Rivers) wherever a quantity of wood was 

 available. The basic similarity of the pottery types and frequency 

 of types over a wide area extending westward from the Sheyenne 

 and Devils Lake area to the Yellowstone suggests that there were 

 continuous contacts between the various Hidatsa-Crow groups and 

 that the abandonment of the eastern wooded section of their terri- 

 tory was rather late, but that it preceded the introduction of the horse. 



A significant feature of the Hidatsa position upstream from the 

 large concentrated Mandan population below Painted Woods and the 

 Crow position to the west of the Mandan is the fact that they lived 

 here together in a weak confederation of independent village groups. 

 With one exception, a short war between the Hidatsa-proper living 

 above the Knife and the Awaxawi living farther downstream who 

 undertook to establish a permanent village above the Hidatsa, there 

 are no traditional accounts of warfare among these three tribes. 

 With the final abandonment of the region east of the Missouri, this 

 cluster of friendly tribes controlled an area from the mouth of the 

 Cannonball to the mouth of the Yellowstone thence upstream to the 

 Powder River and eastward across the Little Missouri with the 

 course of the Cannonball as their southern limits. The three tribes 

 held a commanding position in this region until 1780, living peacefully 

 and assisting each other in conducting offensive warfare against those 



