Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 215 



groups which attempted to penetrate the region. Prior to 1780 the 

 Assiniboin pressure to the north had scarcely been felt (in 1738, La 

 Verendrye found them living back from the Missouri farther to the 

 northeast), but the Sioux had already moved into the Ked River, 

 James River, and Devils Lake regions. Even as late as 1797, 

 Thompson found the Assiniboin northeast of the Hidatsa on the 

 Mouse River, in the Turtle Mountains and northward, with the 

 Sioux as far west as the Dog Dens and in general control of the tall 

 grass east of the Missouri. 



After 1780 the Hidatsa, together with the Mandan and Arikara, 

 were under constant pressure from mounted nomadic groups fre- 

 quently better equipped with firearms. This was also the period of 

 devastating smallpox epidemics. Both these factors materially 

 affected them. Before 1780, having the powerful Mandan village 

 groups to the south in the direction of the Sioux and Arikara, the 

 Hidatsa showed little inclination to fortify their villages or even 

 place them for defense or the easier and safer herding of the horses. 

 There is no archeological evidence that ditch and wall fortifications 

 were constructed at their principal villages prior to 1780 although 

 the Mandans to the south had been fortifying strongly since before 

 A.D. 1500. However, the Mandan situation was somewhat different; 

 their pressure was as great during later years from the Arikara living 

 below them on the Missouri as from the nomadic groups, particularly 

 the Sioux and Cheyenne. 



The epidemics of the 1780's materially changed the picture on the 

 Missouri, for the sedentary bands usually lived together in large 

 agricultural groups during the summer and in somewhat smaller 

 winter camps situated close to each other. The nomadic bands 

 rarely came together as large social groups for longer than a few 

 weeks during the summer, thus contagious diseases weakened them 

 less than the sedentary groups. The losses of the latter are painfully 

 evident when a comparison is made between the large Mandan village 

 sites with European trade material near the Heart River, abandoned 

 after this epidemic, and the two small villages of survivors reported 

 by Lewis and Clark to be living near Fort Clark in 1804. Of the 

 Hidatsa groups, the Awatixa and Awaxawi suffered most, probably 

 due to their custom of going into winter camp as a village unit. In 

 contrast, the Hidatsa-proper, then consisting of organized bands 

 which sometimes practiced agriculture, broke up into smaller winter 

 hunting camps much as did the Assiniboin described by Thompson 

 in 1797. 



A further factor ajffecting the Hidatsa village groups was their posi- 

 tion on the Plains. To the northeast, the Assiniboin and Chippewa 

 had permanent trading posts situated near them at a much earlier 



