my first artifacts 54 years ago

[larson1951]

in 1959 my cub scout troop went to double ditch indian village site 7 miles north of me at bismarck along the banks of the mighty missouri river
this is the KRF scraper i found along with the pottery that would fit in my pockets we could have filled up wheelbarrows full of pottery shards as they were laying all over this site is on the east side of the river and on the west side is the mandan oil refinery where Twitko worked until he retired
it is an interesting place for sure with a double set of fortification ditches easily seen especially from the air.......now a third ditch is being discovered in places......................... this is a mandan site the mandans had over a hundred earth lodges there and lived very good they were mainly farmers growing corn squash and beans.....they also fished in the missouri river where channel catfish, walleye, sauger, etc were prolific and the plains were roamed with buffalo, bear, and elk they had more than ample food supplies which they traded and stored in large cache pits....they usually had enuff food stored that would enable them to live for two years without needing to replenish some of them had blond hair and blue eyes and had a touch of welsh dna which is a mystery


here are my first finds of my life when i was 8 years old.....and also the link: Double Ditch Indian Village Historic Site - State Historical Society of North Dakota


here is a link and you can google much info if you wish about this place try "images of double ditch indian village" for starters
some of yo may find it interesting

 

[Johnny X]

Awesome finds and story Larson!

 

[GatorBoy]

Great you kept them together.
I can almost feel the memories attached to them.
Special pieces for sure.
Thank you for sharing those.

 

[monsterrack]

A very good read and presentation of a site an culture

 

[rock]

We use to make those but we put our hands in them. No artifacts where I lived at least nobody looked for them anyway. I was in the Cub Scouts also.

 

[old digger]

Cool Finds! Time sure does fly! Is the site still accessible?

 

[larson1951]

Historic Trail | LJA

an aerial view
yup old digger next time you come next summer i can take you there

 

[jamey]

awesome as always mr.larson thanks

 

[flintdigger]

Very interesting Steve Glad you hung onto the artifacts. Great story too.