Painting of a Mandan Village by George Catlin
The Mandans, now numbering
more than 12,000, lived in a series of villages that reached the
mouth of the Heart River, in modern-day North Dakota.
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Their villages
featured open plazas at the center, large ceremonial lodges, with
the entire village surrounded by a palisade and a large ditch for
defense.
Mandan pottery
was very sophisticated in construction and appearance, and evidence
taken from villages occupied at this time suggests that they were
experiencing a population explosion, largely due to the success of
their horticulture and favorable climate. It was about this
time, or a little later, that the Mandans and Hidatsa made their
first contact. The Hidatsa built their first villages
upstream from the Mandans at the confluence of the Missouri and the
Knife rivers.