Rogers Archaeology Lab

A New Publication on the Architecture and Early Empires of Inner Asia

By J. Daniel Rogers

Over the course of four field seasons, beginning in 2002, I had the good fortune to travel to Mongolia to study the architecture of the early empires. Some of the earlier blogs on the Rogers Archaeology Lab page describe the fun and challenges of traveling in Mongolia (Travels in Mongolia parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5). The fieldwork I did there was part of my comparative study of how large social systems form and either stabilize or fall apart. Over the last few years I have written quite a bit about the early empires of Inner Asia. People living in these empires herded animals as their economic foundation and they usually lived in tents. This is very different from the early civilizations that first developed in China, the Middle East, South America, and Mesoamerica.  All of these other places had agriculture as their economic foundation and people generally lived in villages, which later developed into cities. My most comprehensive overview of the Inner Asian empires, ranging from the Xiongnu (199 BCE to CE 155) to the Zunghar (CE 1625 to 1757) was published in the Journal of Archaeological Research (2012). 

Although the people of Inner Asia generally lived in tents, when the first empires began to develop they also built a variety of buildings and other forms of architecture, especially settlements with defensive walls. Within the walls there was sometimes a palace or ordinary domestic dwellings, but generally the walls enclosed a large open space with no evidence of buildings. The open space was probably occupied by tent communities. This year (2017) the journal, Archaeological Research in Asia, published my study of the early architecture and how it related to the emergence and stability of empires.  The full title and abstract are listed below.

This study is a culmination of my fieldwork in Mongolia and was only possible through the dedication and help of dozens of friends and colleagues.  I like traveling in wide open places and sleeping in tents.  I have had the good fortune to encounter many others who feel the same way.

Like any study, this one answers some questions while raising others. Stay tuned for future posts as the research continues.

 

Dan Rogers in 2010 at the Uglugchiin Kherem site of the Khitan empire (photography by Altangerel Enkhtur).

 

Rogers, J. Daniel

2017 Inner Asian Polities and Their Built Environment. Archaeological Research in Asia 11:1-14, DOI 10.1016/j.ara.2017.03.002.  Also published online at   http://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S2352226716300630

 

Abstract

By 200 BCE the eastern steppe regions centered on Mongolia saw the development of expansive and complex political systems usually referred to as empires. The origins of these polities and the processes of consolidation can be described within the concept of a political community, reflecting the actions of competing groups in expansive social network. For Inner Asia, community was linked to issues of mobility, dispersed control hierarchies, and the economics of multi-resource pastoralism. Together, these patterns offer an alternative vision of the origin and operation of early complex polities. Archaeologically, the pastoralist way of using the built environment provides a window into the dynamics of political processes that operated within a particular polity, but also within multiple polities across long stretches of time. Based on a sample of 76 sites within 13 steppe polities several patterns emerge that highlight how distinctive political processes altered and incorporated community and place in the building of fortified settlements, palaces, military posts, and other constructions. The evidence from these places suggests that these polities operated as inclusive spatial networks that relied more on mobility than the direct interactions seen in urban centers in sedentary societies. The urban centers of the steppe tended to be the byproduct of polity formation, rather than the source.

 Keywords

Inner Asia - Nomadic empires - Polity formation - Architecture - Urban centers

 

Rogers, J. Daniel

2012. Inner Asian States and Empires: Theories and Synthesis.  Journal of Archaeological Research 20:205-256. doi:10.1007/s10814-011-9053-2.

 

Other Reading

Hanks, Brian

2010. Archaeology of the Eurasian steppes and Mongolia. Annual Review of Anthropology 39, 469–486.

 

Honeychurch, William

2015. Inner Asia and the Spatial Politics of Empire. Springer, New York.

 

Travels in North Dakota, Part III: Fort Clark State Historic Site

By Lotte Govaerts

 

This is the third installment in a blog series on my recent trip to North Dakota. In previous entries I wrote about my visits to Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This entry is about a visit to Fort Clark Historic Site, on a particularly cold day.

Fort Clark State Historic Site encompasses 231.5 acres, approximately 15 miles southwest of Washburn, ND and 7.5 miles southeast of Stanton, ND. It includes the archaeological remains of Mih-tutta-hang-kush, a Mandan earth lodge village occupied between ca. 1822 and 1838, as well as an overlying Arikara village, occupied 1838 through 1861. The remains of a trade post called Fort Clark (1831-1860) and a competing post called Fort Primeau (1846-1861) are also included. A trail lined with interpretive signs loops around the site.

 

A chilly view of Fort Clark State Historic Site. Some of the interpretive signs lining the path can be seen in the distance. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

Because we visited during a full-on blizzard, we did not walk the whole trail. Snow cover also obscured the depressions in the ground where earth lodges once stood. However, because there are so many signs along the way, we still got to read a lot about the site’s history. It would have been fun to spend a little more time and walk the whole trail, but it really was VERY cold and windy. I’m not sure what the exact temperature was, but the next morning when we were getting ready to drive to our next destination, my friend Mat cheerfully informed me that the “real feel” temperature was -22°F (-30°C). Brrrrrr!

 

One of the many interpretive signs providing information to visitors at Fort Clark State Historic Site.(Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

The Mandan village Mih-tutta-hang-kusch was established here around 1822. A trade post named Tilton’s Fort was constructed nearby in 1823 by the Columbia Fur Company (Wood et al. 2011, p. 48-49). In 1825 James Kipp built the predecessor to Fort Clark (referred to as “Fort Clark I” by researchers [ibid., p.55-58]), closer to the village. Fort Clark proper was established in 1830 by the Upper Missouri Outfit of the American Fur Company, and operated until 1860 (the Columbia Fur Company was bought out by the American Fur Company in 1827, becoming its Upper Missouri Outfit. In 1834, it was sold to Pratte, Chouteau & Company, later Pierre Chouteau, Jr. & Company). A competing trade post called Fort Primeau was established by Harvey, Primeau, and Company (also called the Union Fur Company) in 1846. It operated until 1861 (ibid., p. 192-193).

 

George Catlin: "Distant View of the Mandan Village," oil on canvas, 1832. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.379. Fort Clark can be seen to the left of Mih-tutta-hang-kusch.

 

Mih-tutta-hang-kusch was hit by a smallpox epidemic in 1837, when a fur trade steamship carrying the virus docked at the fort. Approximately 90% of the inhabitants of the village were killed. Earlier epidemics had already reduced the Mandan in number (particularly the 1782 smallpox epidemic). Some estimates on the total number of Mandan survivors in 1837 are as low as 125 individuals (ibid., p. 165). These survivors moved north not long after. At this time, a group of Arikara moved to the site and built their lodges over top of the remains of the Mandan village. They remained there until 1861, when they also moved north.

 

Karl Bodmer, “Mih-tutta-Hankusch – a Mandan Village,” aquatint from the book "Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834" by Prince Maximilian of Wied , Publisher: Ackermann & Co., 1839. (via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Well-known visitors to Fort Clark include George Catlin and Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, accompanied by Karl Bodmer. Their paintings, drawings, and writings provide some details about life in the villages and trade posts. Additional information can be found in the journal written by Francis A. Chardon while he was in charge of Fort Clark between 1834 and 1839. Archaeological testing took place at the site intermittently between 1973 and 2001, adding archaeological data to researchers’ knowledge about the site.

 

Karl Bodmer, "Fort Clark – on the Missouri (February 1834)," aquatint from the book "Maximilian, Prince of Wied’s Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832–1834" by Prince Maximilian of Wied , Publisher: Ackermann & Co., 1839. (via Wikiart)

 

In the next installment of this blog series, I will discuss our visit to Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Bibliography/further reading

http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/clark/

Abel, Annie H., ed. 1932. Chardon’s Journal at Fort Clark, 1834-1839. Pierre: South Dakota State Department of History.

Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. 1906. “Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834 by Alexander Philip Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied.” In Early Western Travels, 1748-1846, Vol. 22, 23, 24. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark.

Wood, W. Raymond, W. F. Hunt, and Randy H. Williams. 2011. Fort Clark and Its Indian Neighbors: A Trading Post on the Upper Missouri. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.

 

Travels in North Dakota, Part II: Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan

By Lotte Govaerts

This is the second post in a blog series on my recent trip to North Dakota. Check my previous post for photos from Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. The second stop my friend Mat and I made on this trip was at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, North Dakota. It was snowing when we arrived there and the wind had picked up more, but the museum was open and we even got to tour the reconstructed Fort Mandan in the snow. Both are run by the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan Foundation.

“A map of Lewis and Clark's track, across the western portion of North America from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean: by order of the executive of the United States in 1804, 5 & 6.” (Image Source: Library of Congress G4126.S12 1814 .L4.)

 

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

After the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory in 1803, the government immediately set out to establish a presence in the area, explore, map, and attempt to find a river route to the Pacific. President Jefferson appointed Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition into the new territory. He and William Clark, along with their “Corps of Discovery” traveled from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean (at the mouth of the Columbia River) and back again, between May 14, 1804 and September 23, 1806.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center has exhibits illustrating different aspects of the Lewis and Clark expedition, as well as ones that illustrate local Native American and fur trade history. These exhibits include many archaeological artifacts, very similar to ones you may have seen in our various posts about our collections work.

Below are a few examples of exhibit cases at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center:

Display of bone and ceramic artifacts at Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

 

"Trade objects" display at Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

A bison scapula hoe with wooden handle attached, sitting among other replica tools used for educational purposes. If you've been reading our River Basin Surveys collections posts, you might know that in archaeological contexts, we don't normally find those with the wooden handles still attached, so our photos look a bit different. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

A reconstruction of what a trade room would have looked like, showing many of the items that were traded on the Upper Missouri in the 19th century. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

Fort Mandan Reconstruction

Fort Mandan is the name of the fort Lewis and Clark (and the Corps of Discovery) constructed near the Mandan villages, where they stayed the winter of 1804-1805. The replica Fort Mandan (originally constructed by the McLean County Historical Society) is not in the exact location of the original Fort Mandan. That is because the site of the original Fort Mandan was never found. It is likely in/under the Missouri River now, as the river frequently shifted channels, and does not flow in the same place now as it did when the Corps of Discovery passed through.

Because of the uncharacteristically warm temperatures the area had seen in the days just before our arrival, ice and snow had melted inside the fort and then re-frozen. This made it impossible for the ranger who gave us the tour to open some of the doors and show us all the different rooms/exhibits, but we still got to see most of the fort. The blizzardy conditions seemed kind of appropriate for a winter fort visit.

Approaching the reconstructed Fort Mandan in the snow. The weather gave us some appreciation of what life must have been like at Fort Mandan, though it wasn't nearly as cold as the average temperature experienced during the winter of 1804-05! (see Burnette 2002 and Preston 2004 for information on weather conditions during the Lewis and Clark expedition)

 

Looking into the interior of Fort Mandan. The odd patterns in the soil are frozen footprints. It had been unseasonably warm for a few days, and melting snow and ice had made the fort interior very muddy. By the time we visited, all the mud had frozen again, leaving these patterns, and leaving some of the doors in the fort frozen shut.

 

 

"A reconstruction of Lewis and Clark's room at Fort Mandan.” Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

 

Inside the translator/fur trapper room. It was nicer than the enlisted men’s rooms, but not quite as nice as Lewis and Clark’s.

 

Stay tuned for the third part of this blog series, in which I describe a visit to Fort Clark Historic Site.

 

 

Bibliography & Further Reading:

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center/Fort Mandan

Lewis and Clark Journals online at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Burnette, Dorian J. “Meteorological Reconstruction of the Lewis and Clark Expedition” Emporia State University, 2002.

Jackson, Donald. Thomas Jefferson & the Stony Mountains: Exploring the West from Monticello. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.

Preston, Vernon. “The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1803-1806: Weather, Water & Climate” Weather Forecast Office, Pocatello: NOAA National Weather Service, 2004.

Ronda, James P. Lewis and Clark among the Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2002.

Travels in North Dakota, Part I: Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

By Lotte Govaerts

I have been working with collections from the Upper Missouri basin in North and South Dakota for about four years now, here at the National Museum of Natural History, but I had never actually visited the area until this past spring (late winter, really). My good friend and frequent travel companion Mat and I had the opportunity to take a short road trip across the area in early March of this year. Unfortunately, we arrived in North Dakota at the very end of an uncharacteristically warm period, which was followed by a blizzard. Our travel was impeded somewhat by these blizzard conditions which persisted throughout our visit.

Because of the time of year and the weather, many parks and other attractions were closed or inaccessible when we passed through the area. Despite this, we were still able to see a lot of the sights, and had a great trip. In this blog series, I want to share some pictures from that trip, as well as some historic photos and other related images.

Three earth lodges at On-A-Slant Village, in Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

One of the first places Mat and I visited in North Dakota was Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, located about seven miles south of Mandan.  The park does not close entirely for winter, but during the off-season, there are no interpretive services, no employees on site, and no exhibits, tours, or other activities. The visitor center is also closed.

 

On-A-Slant Village

One of the historic sites contained within Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is On-A-Slant Village. On-A-Slant was a Mandan village occupied for approximately 200 years between the late 16^th and 18^th centuries. It was abandoned shortly after many of the village’s inhabitants were killed during the smallpox epidemic of 1781. The survivors moved north to the Knife River region. In the 1930s, five earth lodges were reconstructed on the site by Civilian Conservation Corps crews.

Tracks in the snow lead to the entrance of an earth lodge at On-A-Slant Village. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

It was extremely cold when we visited, with an icy wind blowing. With no fire going, it wasn’t particularly warm inside these earth lodges, but we could appreciate how well-insulated they were, as the wind could not penetrate the walls at all.

Selfie inside an earth lodge at On-A-Slant Village. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

 

Close-up of interior of roof of an earth lodge at On-A-Slant Village. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

Interior of larger, ceremonial lodge at On-A-Slant Village. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

Interior of the larger, ceremonial earth lodge at On-A-Slant Village. Human (me) for scale. (Photo Mathew Patterson)

 

 

Outside of an earth lodge at On-A-Slant Village. The Missouri river can just be seen on the right. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

1930s photo of Civilian Conservation Corps crew working on the construction of an earth lodge at On-a-Slant Village. (Image source: North Dakota Parks and Recreation, 50^th Anniversary Photo Album)

 

 

Fort Abraham Lincoln

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park of course also includes the site of the fort it was named for.

Almost a century after the Mandan left the area, in June 1872, an infantry post named Fort McKeen was established in this location. It was soon renamed Fort Abraham Lincoln. A cavalry post was added the next year. Fort Abraham Lincoln housed three companies of the 6th and 17th Infantries and six companies of the 7th Cavalry, making it one of the largest military forts in the Northern Plains. It is perhaps most famous for being the home base from which the 7^th Cavalry under Custer started out on the expedition that ended in their defeat at the Greasy Grass or Little Bighorn.

The house where George and Elizabeth Custer lived has been restored, along with the commissary storehouse, enlisted men's barracks, a granary, and a stable. Visitors can take tours, but not during the winter season when we visited.

Wide view of some of the reconstructed buildings at Fort Abraham Lincoln. (Photo Lotte Govaerts)

 

A close-up of the reconstructed Custer house, taken on a nicer day. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

 

Quite a few historical drawings and photographs exist of Fort Abraham Lincoln and the Custer house in particular.

 

View of Fort Abraham Lincoln, 1887. (Image Source: North Dakota State University Libraries, Institute for Regional Studies, Dakota Lithographs and Engravings Collection, Folio 102)

 

Officers and their wives at Fort Abraham Lincoln, 1876 or slightly earlier. (Image Source: State Historical Society of North Dakota 0022-H-0034. Via ND Studies)

 

Several people on the porch and steps of the Custer house, sometime between 1873 and 1876. (Image Source: State Historical Society of North Dakota 00260-03)

 

In the next post I will share photos from my visit to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and the reconstructed Fort Mandan. Stay tuned!

Further reading:

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park website

MHA Nation history pages

Chambers, Lee. Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Pub., 2008.

Fenn, Elizabeth A. Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People. Macmillan, 2014.

Utley, Robert M. The Indian Frontier, 1846-1890. Rev. ed. Histories of the American Frontier Series. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2003.