Crow Creek Massacre

The Crow Creek massacre occurred around A.D. 1325 between Indian groups in the South Dakota area. Crow Creek Site, the site of the massacre near Chamberlain, is an archaeological site and a U.S. National Historic Landmark, located at co-ordinates 43°58′48″N 99°19′54″W. The Siouan-speaking Initial Middle Missouri variant peoples, ancestral to the Mandan Nation, first occupied the site sometime after about A.D. 900. They built numerous earthlodges on the lower portion of the site. People of the Caddoan-speaking Initial Coalescent variant moved into the area sometime around A.D. 1150. Whether they displaced the earlier group or moved onto an abandoned site is unknown. The Initial Coalescent people built at least 55 lodges, mostly on the upper part of the site. There is no direct evidence that there was conflict between the two groups.

There is evidence that the Initial Coalescent villagers knew of the potential for attacks on its village. An earlier dry moat fortification was in the process of being replaced by a new fortification ditch around the expanded village when an attack occurred resulting in the massacre. The attacking group slaughtered the villagers. Archaeologists from the University of South Dakota, directed by project director Larry J. Zimmerman, field director Thomas Emerson, and osteologist P. Willey found the remains of at least 486 people killed during the attack. Many of these remains showed signs of mutilation. These included tongues being removed, scalping, teeth broken, beheading, hands and feet being cut off, and other forms of dismemberment.