Category: Museum Listing Date: 2012-07-21
Prehistoric Village
A Trip Back in Time to an Ancient Native American Village
The Village is the only archaeological site in South Dakota that is open to the public. It was discovered in 1910 by a student from Dakota Wesleyan University.
Just one of the many interesting and informative displays features the discussion of the early use of dogs. This was before the horse was introduced by the Spanish.
The following two (2) paragraphs taken from their website.
Long before there was a Corn Palace, long before there was a mill on the James River and long before the French fur traders came to this area, there was a small village of perhaps 200 people. This village, whose name we shall never know, sat on a bluff, overlooking a creek that we call Firesteel. On the fertile banks of the creek, the villagers grew corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and amaranth.
Today the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village is the only archaeological site in South Dakota open to the public. It is a National Historic Landmark and on the National Register. Each summer archaeologists come and excavate the site, and each summer we learn more about the first settlers who lived here in the Northern Plains. Guests can watch as the archaeologists uncover artifacts in the comfort of the Thomsen Center Archeodome and tour the Boehnen Memorial Museum to see a reconstructed lodge and many of the 1.5 million artifacts found over the years.