The Knife River Indian Villages Archeological Inventory: A Useful Management Tool

During the past several years, the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site has been the focus of an intensive archeological and ethnohistorical research program that is reaping great benefits for the management of the park. Beginning in 1976 and continuing for each summer through 1981, archeologists from the University of North Dakota and the National Park Service's Midwest Archeological Center conducted a variety of investigations in the park designed to delimit the extent and nature of the park's archeological resources The archeological program, conceived and initiated by Dr. F. A. Calabrese of the Midwest Archeological Center, had as an objective research designed to provide an understanding of the regional prehistory and ethnohistory while utilizing an interdisciplinary approach involving various scientific techniques in testing new and promising archeological methods in the field and laboratory. This research has been guided by a comprehensive research plan prepared by Dr. Stanley A. Ahler of the University of North Dakota, which outlines a number of specific tasks explicitly tied to archeological research problems of the region as well as to the specific cultural resource management needs of the park. This document provides a sound methodological and problem-oriented basis for the entire archeological program at Knife River.