The Knife River Study Unit ...................................................................................3.1 Description of the Knife River Study Unit.........................................................3.1 Physiography ..................................................................................................3.1 Drainage ........................................................................................................ 3.5 Climate........................................................................................................... 3.5 Landforms and Soils...................................................................................... 3.5 Flora and Fauna ............................................................................................ 3.6 Other Natural Resource Potential................................................................. 3.6 Overview of Previous Archeological Work ....................................................... 3.9 Inventory Projects ......................................................................................... 3.9 Coteau...................................................................................................... 3.25 Northern Border Pipeline ....................................................................... 3.26 Southwest Pipeline ...................................................................................3.27 Lake Ilo .....................................................................................................3.27 Test Excavation Projects ............................................................................. 3.39 Coteau...................................................................................................... 3.44 Lake Ilo .................................................................................................... 3.46 NRHP and NDSHSR ................................................................................... 3.47 Major Excavation Projects .......................................................................... 3.47 Coteau...................................................................................................... 3.49 Lake Ilo .....................................................................................................3.51 Other Work.................................................................................................. 3.56 Paleo-Indian Period ........................................................................................ 3.60 Paleo-Environmental Modeling.................................................................. 3.60 Cultural Chronology .................................................................................... 3.60 Settlement Behavior.....................................................................................3.61 Native Subsistence Practices........................................................................3.61 Technologies................................................................................................ 3.62 Artifact Styles .............................................................................................. 3.62 Regional Interaction.................................................................................... 3.63 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies .............................. 3.63 Plains Archaic Period...................................................................................... 3.64 Paleo-Environmental Modeling.................................................................. 3.64 Cultural Chronology .................................................................................... 3.65 Settlement Behavior.................................................................................... 3.67 Native Subsistence Practices....................................................................... 3.67 Technologies................................................................................................ 3.68 Artifact Styles .............................................................................................. 3.68 Regional Interaction.................................................................................... 3.69 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies .............................. 3.69 Plains Woodland Period ................................................................................. 3.69 Paleo-Environmental Modeling.................................................................. 3.70 Cultural Chronology .................................................................................... 3.70 Settlement Behavior.................................................................................... 3.70 Native Subsistence Practices........................................................................ 3.71 Technologies................................................................................................. 3.71 Artifact Styles ...............................................................................................3.72 Regional Interaction.....................................................................................3.72 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies ...............................3.73 Plains Village Period ........................................................................................3.73 Paleo-Environmental Modeling...................................................................3.73 Cultural Chronology .................................................................................... 3.74 Settlement Behavior.................................................................................... 3.74 Native Subsistence Practices....................................................................... 3.74 Technologies................................................................................................ 3.74 Artifact Styles ...............................................................................................3.75 Regional Interaction.....................................................................................3.75 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies .............................. 3.76 Equestrian/Fur Trade Period ......................................................................... 3.76 Paleo-Environmental Modeling.................................................................. 3.76 Cultural Chronology .................................................................................... 3.76 Settlement Behavior.....................................................................................3.77 Native Subsistence Practices........................................................................3.77 Technologies.................................................................................................3.77 Artifact Styles ...............................................................................................3.77 Regional Interaction.................................................................................... 3.78 Historic Preservation Goals, Priorities, and Strategies .............................. 3.78 Figure 3.1: Map of the Knife River Study Unit..................................................... 3.2 Figure 3.1A: Shaded relief map of the Knife River Study Unit. ........................... 3.3 Figure 3.2: Annotated Bibliography from KRF Predictive Model: Resource Distribution and Use through Time in Dunn and Mercer Counties, North Dakota. Courtesy of Damita Hiemstra, Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., Bismarck, North Dakota. (MS# refers to a manuscript on file at the SHSND)..3.14 Table 3.1: Townships in the Knife River Study Unit. ........................................... 3.4 Table 3.2: Feature Type by Landform of Archeological Sites in the Knife River Study Unit, 13-Sept-2007. ...................................................................................3.10 Table 3.3: Cultural/Temporal Affiliation of Archeological Resources in the Knife River Study Unit, 13-Sept-2007. .........................................................................3.12 Table 3.4: From Artz and Ahler (1989:Table 2)..................................................3.13 Table 3.5: Inventory Projects in the Knife River Study Unit, 5-Sept-2007........3.27 Table 3.6: Test Excavation Projects in the Knife River Study Unit, 5-Sept-2007. ............................................................................................................................. 3.39 Table 3.7: Major Test Excavation Projects in the Knife River Study Unit, 5-Sept- 2007. ....................................................................................................................3.55 Table 3.8: Other Work in the Knife River Study Unit, 5-Sept-2007. ................ 3.58 The Knife River Study Unit Michael L. Gregg and Amy Bleier 2008 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