River Basin Surveys Papers, No. 26: Small Sites on and about Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota

Published as a series sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology, the “River Basin Surveys Papers” are a collection of archeological investigations focused on areas now flooded by the completion of various dam projects in the United States. The River Basin Surveys Papers (numbered 1-39) were mostly published in bundles with 5-6 papers in each bundle. In collaboration with the United States (US) National Park Service and the US Bureau of Reclamation, the US Department of the Interior, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Smithsonian Institution pulled archeological and paleontological remains from several sites prior to losing access to the sites due to flooding. The Smithsonian Institution calls this project the Inter-Agency Archeological Salvage Program. Paper number 26 covers several small sites in in the Fort Berthold area. The author begins with a short history of the area including the movement and occupation of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes as understood by White/European settlers and explorers. Descriptions of this excavation include that of what the author calls the last Arikara earth lodge as well as hunting lodges, eagle trap sites, rock cairns, and tipi rings. The paper also discusses other text excavations from the Fort Berthold Reservation. The author notes that permission for this dig and others in the area was granted by the Tribal Council of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Access to this site was lost due to the completion of the Garrison Dam. The paper includes photographs, text figures, and a map.https://commons.und.edu/indigenous-gov-docs/1039/thumbnail.jp