Menoken in Burleigh County, North Dakota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Menoken Village State Historic Site
Photographed by Connor Olson, September 16, 2019
1. Menoken Village State Historic Site Marker
Inscription.
Menoken Village State Historic Site. . Menoken Village is a terminal Late Woodland (ca. AD 1200) settlement on Apple Creek, an eastern tributary of the Missouri River. Menoken is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The site is also a registered National Historic Landmark Site due to information it contains regarding the transition from a hunting-gathering lifeway (the Late Woodland tradition) to hunting-gardening involving maize, beans, sunflower, and squash (the Plains Village tradition).
The focus in excavation and artifact studies from 1998-2006 has been on understanding architecture, the use of space within and around dwellings, dating the site, and on substances and material remains. Village subsistence centered on bison hunting. Menoken residents conducted very little gardening but were substantially influenced by established early Plains Village horticultural groups in nearby northern South Dakota. Contact and acculturation are evident in a sparse occurrence of maize and a ceramic assemblage that blends stylistic and technological features from both Woodland and Plains Village traditions.
The lithic technological system featured heavy reliance on Knife River flint quarried and processed at locations distant from the settlement. Gulf coast marine shell and native copper artifacts occur in small numbers.
A prominent semicircular ditch with four large bastions enclosed 1.5 acres. Some evidence suggests that part of the original village was eroded away by Apple Creek, implying an original settlement with 30+ dwellings. Two distinct, earth-covered, oval house types occur: (1) semisubterranean with an interior entry ramp, and (2) at the surface with many wall posts. Entrance face northeast, southwest, and southeast. Single excavated examples of surface and pit houses do not differ in season of use or overall function.
Photo captions: , Upper left: Menoken Village aerial photograph , Lower left: Menoken Village photograph with House 17 in the foreground , Lower middle: Plan map of House 17 , Plan map of House 2 , Upper right: Menoken Village plan map , Middle right: Excavation of House 17 in 2005 , Lower right: Excavation of House 2 in 1999
Menoken Village is a terminal Late Woodland (ca. AD 1200) settlement on Apple Creek, an eastern tributary of the Missouri River. Menoken is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The site is also a registered National Historic Landmark Site due to information it contains regarding the transition from a hunting-gathering lifeway (the Late Woodland tradition) to hunting-gardening involving maize, beans, sunflower, and squash (the Plains Village tradition).
The focus in excavation and artifact studies from 1998-2006 has been on understanding architecture, the use of space within and around dwellings, dating the site, and on substances and material remains. Village subsistence centered on bison hunting. Menoken residents conducted very little gardening but were substantially influenced by established early Plains Village horticultural groups in nearby northern South Dakota. Contact and acculturation are evident in a sparse occurrence of maize and a ceramic assemblage that blends stylistic and technological features from both Woodland and Plains Village traditions.
The lithic technological system featured heavy reliance on Knife River flint quarried and processed at locations distant from the settlement. Gulf coast marine shell and native copper artifacts occur in small numbers.
A prominent semicircular ditch with four large bastions enclosed 1.5 acres. Some evidence suggests that part of the original village was eroded away by Apple Creek, implying an original settlement with 30+ dwellings. Two distinct, earth-covered, oval house types occur: (1) semisubterranean with an interior entry ramp, and (2) at the surface with many wall posts. Entrance face northeast, southwest, and southeast. Single excavated examples of surface and pit houses do not differ in season of use or overall function.
Photo captions: Upper left: Menoken Village aerial photograph Lower left: Menoken Village photograph with House 17 in the foreground Lower middle: Plan map of House 17 Plan map of House 2 Upper right: Menoken Village plan map Middle right: Excavation of House 17 in 2005 Lower right: Excavation of House 2 in 1999
Location. 46° 50.46′ N, 100° 31.106′ W. Marker is in Menoken, North Dakota, in Burleigh County. It can be reached from 171st Street Northeast 0.3 miles north of 30th Avenue Northeast, on the right when traveling north. Located in a fieldstone shelter at Menoken Village State Historic Site. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Menoken ND 58558, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is on the Missouri Plateau and in Greater Bismarck Area. It is also in the American Lewis & Clark Corridor, on the prairies, and on the Northern Plains. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land and also the Louisiana Purchase.
Credits. This page was last revised on August 13, 2020. It was originally submitted on August 12, 2020, by Connor Olson of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. This page has been viewed 239 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on August 12, 2020, by Connor Olson of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. • Mark Hilton was the editor who published this page.
