The Dakota Territorial officer quarters of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, Morton County, North Dakota.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, McLean County, North Dakota.

A Mandan earth lodge at Knife River Indian Village National Historic Site, Stanton, Mercer County, North Dakota.

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Current Projects

Dr. Mark Mitchell (r), principal investigator, explains to a visitor (l) the goals of the June 2015 archaeological investigation at Chief Looking's Village in the City of Bismarck, Burleigh County, North Dakota.

Interpretive signage that will be updated to explain the latest investigative findings at Chief Looking's Village.

In June 2015, the Paleocultural Research Group (PCRG), a nonprofit research and education organization, teamed up with the Northern Plains Heritage Foundation, Colorado State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and the University of Arkansas to carry out an archaeological investigation of Chief Looking’s Village, a Mandan settlement located above Pioneer Park within the City of Bismarck. Chief Looking’s Village falls along the Bismarck Parks & Recreation District trail system. The goal of the project is to learn more about Mandan history and culture in the Bismarck area during the 1500s.

The research team used traditional and state-of-the-art archaeological methods. Artifacts and scientific samples from this June 2015 excavation are being analyzed in PCRG's Colorado lab. They will be returned to North Dakota’s expanded Heritage Center for permanent storage. The project’s findings will be presented to the public in 2016 and beyond. PCRG’s previous archaeological investigations in North Dakota informed Elizabeth Fenn’s 2015 Pulitzer Prize winning work, Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People. 

For more information, contact Dr. Mark D. Mitchell directly at (303) 913-2435 or at Mark.Mitchell@Paleocultural.org

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Dr. Ken Kvamme (University of Arkansas) explains the process of magnetometry at Chief Looking's Village in June, 2015.

Volunteers and graduate and undergraduate students assembled for the archaeological investigation at Chief Looking's Village.