Middle Missouri Tradition

One of three broad cultural traditions (along with Central Plains and Coalescent) which constitute the Plains Village Indian or Plains Village Pattern of c 1000-1500 AD. There were many permanent farming village sites along the central Missouri River trench in North and South Dakota. The culture is characterized by a specially developed strain of cold-resistant, quick-maturing maize, by the bison scapula hoe, and by permanent dwellings in the form of the semisubterranean timber-and-earth lodge. Often palisaded and constructed on high promontories overlooking a river, villages of over 100 dwellings are quite common. Ceramics, though Woodland derived, bear evidence of some Mississippian influence, such as shell tempering. The tradition disappeared, due to drought and/or alien incursions, by 1500. Historic tribes such as the Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa are thought to be the cultural heirs to the tradition.

One of the village-dwelling, farming traditions of the American Plains, based on the Missouri River drainage especially in the states of North and South Dakota. Although hunting and gathering were part of subsistence activities, the culture is characterized by a specially developed strain of cold-resistant, quick-maturing maize, by the bison scapula hoe, and by permanent dwellings in the form of the semisubterranean timber and earth lodge. Often palisaded and constructed on high promontories, overlooking a river, villages of over 100 dwellings (e.g. the Huff site) are quite common. Ceramics, though Woodland derived, bear evidence of some Mississippian influence, such as shell tempering. The tradition began to emerge in clOOO ad and had disappeared, due to drought and/or alien incursions, by 1500. Historic tribes such as the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa (now virtually extinct) are thought to be the cultural heirs to the tradition.