Awatixa Xi'e Village -- Knife River Indian Villages NHS, Stanton ND - North Dakota Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is a fascinating glimpse into the way that Indian tribes along the Missouri and Knife Rivers lived before the Europeans arrived.

This National Historic Site also contains the evidence of ancient Indian villages that existed in this area along the Knife River.

The waymarked historical marker reads as follows:

"Awatixa Xi’e Village
(Ah-wah-TEE-khah) (eh)

Circles in the Earth

You are at the edge of a large village of earthlodges. When the dwellings collapsed, they left circular mounds of earth around hardened, saucer-like floors. From that pattern you can picture the extent of this village and speculate about the number of inhabitants.


The bowl -shaped first large depressions are surprisingly close together, leaving barely enough room for corn-drying scaffolds between dwellings. On sprawling prairie this crowded design suggests a close-knit social structure or the need for protection against marauding tribes.

[drawing of the wood skeleton of an earthlodge]

These earthlodges measure thirty to sixty feet in diameter -- large enough for an extended family of five to fifteen people and their belongings, dogs, and a few of their best horses. At least five inches of earth covered wooden framework of rafters and support posts.

[photo]

Fifty-one Earth Lodge depressions are clearly visible from the air. According to archaeological evidence, people occupied the site for centuries before the Awatixa built this village. They abandoned it after the smallpox epidemic in 1780, but later returned and built a new village at river’s edge."

Roadside: no City: no Other: yes

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Date Logged Log User Rating   03/01/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it