Pottery Sherd

Lower Hidatsa archeological excavation

Unearthed through archeological excavations, pottery reveals glimpses into everyday life of the Hidatsa Indians who occupied the present-day Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site.

Only women could purchase the rights to own the sacred knowledge of pottery making. Pottery making was usually practiced in the privacy of the earthlodge.

Located on the Knife River in west-central North Dakota, the village now known as Lower Hidatsa was inhabited from the 1600s until the smallpox epidemic of 1782.