Contents The Knife River Study Unit ................................................................................................ 1 Description of the Knife River Study Unit ..................................................................... 1 Physiography............................................................................................................... 1 Drainage ...................................................................................................................... 5 Climate ........................................................................................................................ 5 Landforms and Soils ................................................................................................... 5 Flora and Fauna........................................................................................................... 6 Other Natural Resource Potential ............................................................................... 6 Overview of Previous Archeological Work .................................................................... 9 Inventory Projects ..................................................................................................... 12 Energy Development and Expansion .................................................................... 20 Coteau Mining .................................................................................................. 20 Coyote Creek Mining ........................................................................................ 21 Pipelines ............................................................................................................ 21 Southwest Pipeline ................................................................................................ 22 Lake Ilo ................................................................................................................. 22 Formal Test Excavation Projects .............................................................................. 22 Energy Development ............................................................................................. 31 Coteau Mining .................................................................................................. 31 Dakota Westmoreland Mining .......................................................................... 32 Lake Ilo ................................................................................................................. 33 Stone Circle and Cairn Sites ..................................................................................... 33 National Register of Historic Places ......................................................................... 34 Major Excavation Projects ........................................................................................ 45 Energy Development and Expansion .................................................................... 48 Mining ............................................................................................................... 48 Lake Ilo ................................................................................................................. 50 Other Work ............................................................................................................... 53 Paleo-Indian Period ....................................................................................................... 56 Paleo-Environmental Modeling ................................................................................ 56 Cultural Chronology ................................................................................................. 56 Settlement Behavior .................................................................................................. 57 Native Subsistence Practices..................................................................................... 57 Technologies ............................................................................................................. 57 Artifact Styles ........................................................................................................... 58 Regional Interaction .................................................................................................. 59 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ............................................. 59 Plains Archaic Period .................................................................................................... 59 Paleo-Environmental Modeling ................................................................................ 59 Cultural Chronology ................................................................................................. 60 Settlement Behavior .................................................................................................. 62 Native Subsistence Practices..................................................................................... 63 Artifact Styles ........................................................................................................... 64 Regional Interaction .................................................................................................. 64 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ............................................. 64 Plains Woodland Period ................................................................................................ 64 Paleo-Environmental Modeling ................................................................................ 65 Cultural Chronology ................................................................................................. 65 Settlement Behavior .................................................................................................. 65 Native Subsistence Practices..................................................................................... 66 Technologies ............................................................................................................. 66 Artifact Styles ........................................................................................................... 67 Regional Interaction .................................................................................................. 67 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ............................................. 68 Plains Village Period..................................................................................................... 68 Paleo-Environmental Modeling ................................................................................ 68 Cultural Chronology ................................................................................................. 68 Settlement Behavior .................................................................................................. 69 Native Subsistence Practices..................................................................................... 69 Technologies ............................................................................................................. 69 Artifact Styles ........................................................................................................... 69 Regional Interaction .................................................................................................. 70 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ............................................. 70 Equestrian/Fur Trade Period ......................................................................................... 70 Paleo-Environmental Modeling ................................................................................ 71 Cultural Chronology ................................................................................................. 71 Settlement Behavior .................................................................................................. 71 Native Subsistence Practices..................................................................................... 71 Technologies ............................................................................................................. 71 Artifact Styles ........................................................................................................... 72 Regional Interaction .................................................................................................. 72 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ............................................. 72 The Knife River Study Unit Michael L. Gregg and Amy C. Bleier 2016 The Knife River Study Unit (KRSU) has the greatest density of prehistoric sites in the state because the primary source area for Knife River flint (KRF) is here. Settlements with activity areas partially or entirely devoted to the procurement and initial processing of KRF abound in the area. Additionally, the Knife River basin was used heavily for hunting and gathering wild plant foods and other materials by large populations of Plains Village peoples whose residential bases were concentrated along the Missouri River immediately to the east. Also, paralleling other southwestern North Dakota drainages, most of the KRSU has been free of glacial ice and open for exploitation throughout all of prehistory. It has surely witnessed at least intermittent human occupation since people first came to the Northern Plains, and reports of Clovis point surface finds seem to affirm that. Description of the Knife River Study Unit The