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on the Plains and floated winter stores of meat and
hides to their houses at the mouth of the Platte.
Archaeologists do not as yet know if all or most
Glenwood earth lodges were occupied at the same
time; radiocarbon dates cannot sort this out. Many
sites are undoubtedly missing or unknown, especially
in the Missouri floodplain where most were likely de-
stroyed by the notoriously violent “Mighty Mo” or lie
buried beneath flood deposits.
Archaeology often creates more questions than it
answers. It is clear that Glenwood people preferred
living near the mouth of the Platte, but the reasons
for this still leave the experts scratching their heads.
By creating a geographic information system model
archaeologists were able to explore additional fac-
tors that may have influenced where the Glenwood
people decided to construct their homes.
New Investigations at Kimball Village: What
Lies Beneath
The exact configuration of the Missouri floodplain in ports the idea of Glenwood as Central Plains “colo- Fortified Mill Creek villages dotted northwest Iowa
prehistoric times is unknown. In general, floodplains nists” who built their houses relatively close together 900 years ago as clusters of tightly spaced earth lodg-
cannot be crossed as straight lines by either canoe for communication and defense in a new territory. es protected by ditch and wooden stockade defenses.
or on foot. So the actual distance traveled across the The position of Glenwood lodges within eyeshot One of the most impressive and best preserved is the
floodplain was unquestionably longer. It is clear, of one another meant that people could have as- Kimball Village site (13PM4) on the Big Sioux River
however, that the vast majority of Glenwood occu- sembled quickly in times of crisis. The location might a few miles northwest of its confluence with the Mis-
pants were within an easy day’s travel to the Platte. represent an attempt to control traffic and trade at the souri. You can drive by the site today, but if you did,
important juncture of the Missouri and Platte rivers. you’d probably wonder where it was.
The reasons for the proximity to the mouth of the Perhaps the Glenwood area is a winter home for
Platte are unknown. Perhaps this distribution sup- people who spent the warm part of the year hunting Looking west towards the Big Sioux, the Kimball
site appears as a gentle rise in a modern farm field.
University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist 15
