520 - Chief Looking Village

This seemingly plain expanse of grass overlooking the beautiful Missouri has a rich history involving the Mandan people going back generations. Chief Looking’s Village, as this preserved village site is known, was occupied from roughly 1550 to 1600 by a settlement of Mandan people. Chief Looking’s Village was founded during a period of dynamic Mandan history. The number of people in the region was increasing, the Mandan trade network was expanding, the frequency and fatality of warfare was escalating, and the influence and power of the Mandan people was growing thanks to increased wealth and population size. Chief Looking’s Village was only one among about twelve other Mandan villages whose inhabitants all settled around the confluence of the Missouri River and the Heart River. One of the origin stories of the Heart River and Missouri River confluence tells of the hero Good Furred Robe. He led the Mandan people along the Mississippi River teaching them how to hunt, make pottery, and do other crafts. Ultimately, he led them to the Heart River and Missouri River confluence where they settled and prospered.

When Chief Looking’s Village was built, it was during an interesting transition in Mandan architecture. For centuries prior to the town’s founding, homes were built in long rectangular shapes with timber frames, gable roofs covered by plants and hides, and excavated floors. There is evidence of these rectangular structures in Chief Looking’s Village, but also of a newer kind of house that first appeared in the 1400s. These homes were circular with a timber frame, four support beams around a central firepit and a domed roof covered by willows, bundled grass and dirt. These circular homes became the new standard everywhere by the 1600s. Archeological digs have also uncovered evidence of bastions in this village, strong points in a ditch and palisade that allow defenders to direct crossing fire at an attacking force. Two of these bastions are still visible on the east side of Chief Looking’s Village.