The Smithsonian's River Basin Surveys (RBS) were part of a large-scale mid-twentieth century archaeological salvage program. Many artifact collections associated with the RBS are curated by the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Since 2012, crews from Rogers Archaeology Lab have been cataloging four of these collections, all from the Upper Missouri Basin. These were the last of the RBS collections not yet entered into the Smithsonian's cataloging system. This cataloging project is part of a larger effort on the part of the Anthropology department's Collections Management staff to make the RBS collections more accessible. On this page we have collected links to information on the history of the RBS, RBS archaeology in the Upper Missouri, and our work with the RBS collections.
Selection of artifacts from Cattle Oiler (39ST224). Read more here.
Our RBS-related blog posts:
Introducing the Arikara and Mandan Ceramic Type Collection.
Objects with Many Voices; People with Two Spirits.
History of Cattle Oiler and the River Basin Surveys.
In the Kitchen with…Middle Missouri Indians.
Archaeologists are in your trash, digging up your stories.
What is Historical Archaeology?
How the River Basin Surveys Shaped Historical Archaeology.
The Upper Missouri River Basin in the Nineteenth Century: Fur Trade (Historical Context).
The Upper Missouri River Basin in the Nineteenth Century: Military Frontier (Historical Context).
The Upper Missouri River Basin in the Nineteenth Century: Indian Agencies (Historical Context).
Our Summer with Sommers Site: A Site for All Seasons.
Cataloging the Larson Site: Metal Artifacts.
Cataloging the Larson Site: Bone Tool Artifacts.
Cataloging the Larson Site: Ceramic Artifacts.
Cataloging the Larson Site: Stone Artifacts.
Ready for Research: The Larson Site Cataloging Project is Complete!
Resources relating to the History of the River Basin Surveys:
Jennings, Jesse D., River Basin Surveys: Origins, Operations, and Results, 1945-1969, American Antiquity Vol. 50, No. 2, 281-296, 1985.
Thiessen, Thomas D. Emergency Archeology in the Missouri River Basin: The Role of the Missouri Basin Project and the Midwest Archeological Center in the Interagency Archeological Salvage Program, 1946–1975. United States Department of the Interior National Park Service Midwest Archeological Center Lincoln, Nebraska, 1999.
Thiessen, Thomas D., and Karin M. Roberts, The River Basin Surveys Collections: A Legacy for American Archeology, Plains Anthropologist Vol. 54, No. 210, May 2009.
Butler, William B., Some Observations on the Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys Excavation and Reporting Standards. Plains Anthroplogist 54(211): 211–215, 2009.
Hull-Walski, Deborah, Kimball M. Banks, Edward B. Jelks, and Jon S. Czaplicki, Dammed If We Do and Dammed If We Don't: The River Basin Surveys and Interagency Archeological Salvage Programs 60 Years After.
Banks, K.M. and Czaplicki, J.S. (eds.), Dam Projects and the Growth of American Archaeology: The River Basin Surveys and the Interagency Archeological Salvage Program. Left Coast Press. Walnut Creek, California, 2014.
National Anthropological Archives Finding Guide to the Records of the River Basin Survey: RIVER BASIN SURVEYS (1946-1969), Records.
Resources relating to RBS Archaeology in the Upper Missouri region:
RBS publications on historical archaeology.
River Basin Surveys Historic Sites: Collections and Resources.
Other related resources:
Caldwell, Warren W., and G. Hubert Smith. Garrison Reservoir: Geology, Paleontology, Archeology, History. Missouri Basin Project of Smithsonian Institution, 1952.
———. Oahe Reservoir: Archeology, Geology, History. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution River Basin Surveys, 1963.
Cooper, Paul L. “H.P.Thomas Site (39ST12).” River Basin Survey Papers, 1958. River Basin Survey Papers. National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Ms. on file.
Deetz, James. “The Dynamics of Stylistic Change in Arikara Ceramics.” In Illinois Studies in Anthropology, Vol. 4. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1965.
Deland, Charles Edward. “The Aborigines of South Dakota.” South Dakota State Historical Society, Historical Collections III (n.d.): 267–586.
Hall, Robert L. “The Mississippian Heartland and Its Plains Relationship.” Plains Anthropologist 12, no. 36 (May 1967): 175–83.
Holder, Preston. “Social Stratification Among the Arikara.” Ethnohistory 5 (1958): 210–18.
———. “The Fur Trade as Seen From the Indian Point of View.” In The Frontier Re-Examined, edited by J. F McDermott, 129–39. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1967.
———. The Hoe and the Horse on the Plains: A Study of Cultural Development Among North American Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970.
Johnson, Craig M. A Chronology of Middle Missouri Plains Village Sites. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 47. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, 2007.
Jones, David T. “Investigations at the Cattle Oiler Site, 39ST224, Big Bend Reservoir, South Dakota.” Revised version of Moerman and Jones, 1966, 1969.
Krause, Richard A. “Archeology and Culture Change in the Middle Missori.” Master’s thesis, University of Nebraska, 1962a.
———. “Arikara Ceramic Change: A Study of the Factors Affecting Stylistic Change in Late 18th and Early 19th Century Arikara Pottery.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Yale University, 1967.
———. The Leavenworth Site: Archaeology of an Historic Arikara Community. Publications in Anthropology 3. Lawrence: University of Kansas, 1972.
Lehmer, Donald J. Archaeological Investigations in the Oahe Dam Area, South Dakota, 1950-51. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 158. Washington, D. C., 1954a.
———. “Epidemics among the Indians of the Upper Missouri.” Reprints in Anthropology 8 (1977a): 105–11.
———. Introduction to Middle Missouri Archaeology. Anthropological Papers 1. Washington, D. C.: National Park Service, 1971.
———. “Plains Village Tradition: Postcontact.” In Handbook of the North American Indians, edited by William G Sturtevant, 13:245–55. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001.
———. “Salvage Archaeology in the Middle Missouri.” Ms. prepared for the National Park Service, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1965.
———. The Fire Heart Creek Site. River Basin Surveys, Publications in Salvage Archeology 1. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1966.
———. “The Other Side of the Fur Trade.” Reprints in Anthropology 8 (1977b): 91–104.
Lehmer, Donald J, and David T Jones. Arikara Archeology: The Bad River Phase. River Basin Surveys, Publications in Salvage Archeology 7. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1968.
Mattes, Merril J. “Historic Sites Archeology on the Upper Missouri.” In River Basin Survey Papers, Vol. 15. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176. Washington, D.C., 1960.
Meyer, Roy W. The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: The Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977.
Miller, Carl F. “The Excavation and Investigation of Fort Lookout Trading Post II (39LM57) in the Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota.” In River Basin Survey Papers, Vol. 17. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176. Washington, D.C., 1960.
Mills, John E. “Historic Sites Archeology in the Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota.” In River Basin Survey Papers, Vol. 16. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176. Washington, D.C., 1960.
Moerman, Daniel E., and David T. Jones. “Investigations at the Cattle Oiler Site, 39ST224, Big Bend Reservoir, South Dakota,” 1966.
Morgan, Lewis Henry. “The Stone and Bone Implements of the Arikarees.” Twenty-First Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York, 1871, 25–46.
Parmalee, Paul W. “Inferred Arikara Subsistence Patterns Based on a Selected Faunal Assemblage from the Mobridge Site, South Dakota.” The Kiva 44 (1979): 191–218.
———. “The Avifauna from Prehistoric Arikara Sites in South Dakota.” Plains Anthroplogist 22, no. 77 (August 1977): 189–222.
Roberts, Frank H. H. (ed), ed. River Basin Survey Papers, Numbers 15 - 20. Vol. 176. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin. Washington D.C.: United States Printing Office, 1960.
Rogers, J. Daniel. “Archaeology and the Interpretation of Colonial Encounters.” In The Archaeology of Colonial Encounters: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Gil J Stein, 331–54. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 2005.
———. “Culture Contact and the Analysis of Change in Artifact Assemblages: The Arikara Case.” Cuadernos de Arqueología Mediterránea Tomo 3 (1997): 83–96.
———. Objects of Change: The Archaeology and History of Arikara Contact with Europeans. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1990.
———. “The Social and Material Implications of Culture Contact on the Northern Plains.” In Ethnohistory and Archaeology: Approaches to Postcontact Change in the Americas, edited by J. Daniel Rogers and Samuel M Wilson, 73–88. New York: Plenum Press, 1993.
Rogers, J. Daniel, and Melvin G Brewster. “Some Functional Characteristics of Arikara Domestic Ceramics.” In Plains Anthropological Conference, 1990.
Schneider, Mary Jane. “An Investigation into the Origin of Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan Twilled Basketry.” Plains Anthroplogist 29, no. 106 (November 1984): 265–76.
Smith, G. Hubert. “Archaeological Investigations at the Site of Fort Stevenson (32ML1), Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota.” In River Basin Survey Papers 15 - 20. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176. Washington D.C., 1960.
———. Big Bend Historic Sites. River Basin Surveys, Publications in Salvage Archeology 9. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1968.
———. “Fort Pierre II (39ST217), a Historic Trading Post in the Oahe Dam Area, South Dakota.” In River Basin Survey Papers. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 176. Washington, D.C., 1960.
———. Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. Anthropological Papers 2. National Park Service, 1972.
Smith, G. Hubert, and John Ludwickson. Fort Manuel: The Archeology of an Upper Missouri Trading Post of 1812-1813. Special Publication of the South Dakota Archaeological Society 7, 1981.
Smith, Carlyle S. “An Analysis of the Firearms and Related Specimens from Like-A-Fishhook Village and Fort Berthold I.” Plains Anthropologist 4 (1955): 3–12.
———. “Cartridges and Bullets from Fort Stevenson, North Dakota.” Plains Anthropologist 1 (1954): 25–29.
———. “Time Perspective within the Coalescent Tradition in South Dakota.” American Antiquity 28, no. 4 (1963): 489–95.
———. The Talking Crow Site: A Multi-Component Earthlodge Village in the Big Bend Region, South Dakota. University of Kansas, Publications in Anthropology 9. Lawrence, 1977.
Smith, Carlyle S, and Roger T Grange Jr. “The Spain Site (39LM301), A Winter Village in Fort Randall Reservoir, South Dakota.” In River Basin Surveys Papers, Vol. 11. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 169. Washington, D.C., 1958.
Smith, Carlyle S, and Alfred E Johnson. The Two Teeth Site. River Basin Surveys, Publications in Salvage Archeology 8. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1968.
Strong, William Duncan. An Introduction to Nebraska Archeology. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, 63 (10). Washington, D. C., 1935.
———. “From History to Prehistory in the Northern Great Plains.” In Smithsonian Institution Miscellaneous Collections, 100:353–94. Washington, 1940.
———. “Studying the Arikara and Their Neighbors on the Upper Missouri.” In Explorations and Field-Work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1932, 73–76, 1933.
———. “The Plains Culture in the Light of Archaeology.” American Anthropologist 35 (1933): 271–87.
Toom, Dennis L. “The Middle Missouri Villagers and the Early Fur Trade: Implications for Archaeological Interpretation.” Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska, 1979.
Trimble, Michael K. An Ethnohistorical Interpretation of the Spread of Smallpox in the Northern Plains Utilizing Concepts of Disease Ecology. Reprints in Anthropology 33. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1986.
Wedel, Mildred Mott, and Raymond J. DeMallie. “The Ethnohistorical Approach in Plains Area Studies.” In Anthropology on the Great Plains, 110–28. University of Nebraska Press, 1980.
Wedel, Waldo R. Archaeological Materials From the Vicinity of Mobridge, South Dakota. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 157. Washington, D.C., 1955.
———. “Salvage Archaeology in the Missouri River Basin.” Science 156, no. 3775 (1967): 589–97.
Wood, W. Raymond, ed. Archaeology on the Great Plains. University of Kansas Press, 1998.
———. “Historical and Archaeological Evidence for Arikara Visits to the Central Plains.” Plains Anthropologist 4 (1955): 27–39.
———. “An Interpretation of Mandan Culture History.” University of Oregon, 1961.
Wood, W. Raymond, and Jeffrey R Hanson. The Origins of the Hidatsa Indians: A Review of Ethnohistorical and Traditional Data. Reprints in Anthropology, v. 32. J & L reprint Co, 1986.
Wood, W. Raymond, W. F. Hunt, and Randy H. Williams. Fort Clark and Its Indian Neighbors: A Trading Post on the Upper Missouri. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2011.
Wood, W. Raymond, and Margot Liberty, eds. Anthropology on the Great Plains. First Edition. University of Nebraska Press, 1980.
Wood, W. Raymond, and Thomas D. Thiessen. Early Fur Trade on the Northern Plains: Canadian Traders among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, 1738-1818: The Narratives of John Macdonell, David Thompson, Francois-Antoine Larocque, and Charles McKenzie. 1st ed. The American Exploration and Travel Series, v. 68. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1985.