Crow Creek Massacre

The Crow Creek Massacre site is located in Buffalo County of central South Dakota. The village where the massacre took place was on a piece of land formed by the confluence of the Crow Creek and Wolf Creek. These two creeks flowed into the flood plain of the Missouri River creating a fertile area for its residents to grow their crops. It is known to archaeologists by its trinomial number 39BF11. This number represents the state in which it was found (39), the county which it was found in (BF), and the number of the site in the county (11).

The inhabitants of this village were descendants of the Central Plains Tradition people. Their ancestors moved north to what is now South Dakota when the climate of the central plains changed. Facing hotter and dryer conditions, they sought out an area that could sustain their needs, so they settled along the Missouri River in South Dakota. At the time of their migration there had already been another culture of people living along the Missouri River. These people were known as the Middle Missouri Tradition people. Most of these people moved north and abandoned their villages. Soon after, the Central Plains Tradition people took over their abandoned villages along the river. One of these villages was the site at Crow Creek. Not only did they use their abandoned villages, they also absorbed some parts of the Middle Missouri Tradition culture. Because of this, archaeologists defined a new term to describe the new people who settled in the area of Crow Creek and the Missouri River. These people where known as the Initial Coalescent Tradition. Initial Coalescent basically means that these were the first people whose culture had blended together with another in this area.

The people who lived in the Crow Creek village made their homes in earth lodges and subsisted on a diet of beans, maize, and squash. They also gathered wild berries and hunted buffalo, deer, and other small animals. They were proficient toolmakers who used the bones and rock in the area to manufacture weapons for hunting and tools for farming. They also made their own pottery.

A number of interesting things were found during the excavation of this site. The major find was the remains of at least 486 people in a pile, covering a 20 x 20 square foot area. Closer examination of these remains show a number of things. There was evidence found of scalping and death caused by blows to the head. This would obviously indicate that a violent confrontation took place here. Second, was evidence of malnutrition indicating a serious shortage in the food supply. Some bones, especially those of children, show areas where growth had stopped and started a number of times.

Evidence also indicated that these people had not been buried right after their deaths. This conclusion was reached because many of the bones had teeth marks from some type of dog-like animal. So it is believed that the bodies of the dead had been exposed for some time until somebody came along and dumped the bones in a pile, at the most northern point of the occupation site in the fortification ditch. The bones were then covered with a layer of clay and a fire was built on top of the burial site.

Radiocarbon dates of this fire pit gave archaeologists an approximate date of the massacre at around 1350 A.D. It is believed by archaeologists that the massacre took place in late autumn or early winter and at the time of the attack their earth lodges were set on fire and burned to the ground. The ages of the victims range from infants to the elderly. Curiously, there were fewer female victims in the 15-39 year old range. These females may have been taken by whoever was responsible for the massacre.

Archaeologists believe that this massacre may have taken place for a number of reasons. Some explanations are more plausible than others, but none can be proven definitively. First is the hypothesis that the Middle Missouri Tradition people came down from the north and attacked those that had now inhabited their abandoned village. Though this is possible, it is not likely. The stronger hypothesis is that other Initial Coalescent people from neighboring villages attacked and killed the Crow Creek villagers to take their land and used it to grow crops for themselves. This is supported by evidence of nutrient deficiencies found in the bones of the victims and the belief that there may have been as many as 8000 people living in this small area along the Missouri River. The timing of the massacre also supports this hypothesis. As winter approached, food would have been hard to come by especially if this area was overpopulated.

Sources:

Crow Creek Massacre http://www.usd.edu/anth/crow/crow1/html

Pathology in the Crow Creek Skeletons http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/paleopathology/crowcreek

Crow Creek Case Study http://www.uiowa.edu/~anthro/ljz/war/lec6.html

Matt Lutgen