Double Ditch State Historic Site

Address Restricted, Bismarck, North Dakota. County/parish: Burleigh.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places January 29, 1979. NRIS 79001769.

1 contributing site.

Also known as:

  • 32BL8
  • Bourgois Site
  • Burgois Site
  • Double Ditch Earth Lodge Village Site

From Wikipedia:

Double Ditch

Double Ditch, also known as the Double Ditch State Historic Site, Burgois Site, 32BL8, Bourgois Site, and Double Ditch Earth Lodge Village Site, is an archaeological site located on the east bank of the Missouri River north of Bismarck, North Dakota, United States. It is named for the two visible trenches that once served as fortifications for the village, but archaeologists found a further two ditches outside these indicating that the population was originally larger.

The site was the location of a Mandan Native American earth lodge village from approximately 1450A.D. to 1785 A.D. It was abandoned after the 1775–1782 North American smallpox epidemic. The site includes remains of earth lodges, midden mounds, and fortification ditches. It is managed by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

The archeological site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Also at the location are Depression Era Work Relief Construction Features at Double Ditch Indian Village Site State Historic Site, which were separately listed on the National Register in 2014.

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