The following pages contain images of human remains from the Crow Creek Massacre.
These photographs are used only with the permission of the Arikara people, the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, and American Indians Against Desecration. Their use is allowed to us only for educational purposes. We ask that you act in a respectful way in regard to the pictures and learn from them. Please not download these photographs without permission from us.
Some will be shocked by the images; others may be offended. We urge that you not look at the pages if you are bothered by pictures of human skeletal remains. You may wish to know that the remains were reburied in 1981.
In 1978, archaeologists discovered the remains of nearly 500 people. Normally archaeologists would not excavate such a site, but severe erosion was damaging the site and looters uncovered the remains in an eroded area near the end of the fortification ditch. Under an agreement with the Arikara people, the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation, and the US Army Corps of Engineers, the remains could be excavated so that they would not be further desecrated by looters. The agreement allowed for study so long as the study was done within the state boundaries of South Dakota and could be completed within a year. The agreement also stated that the people were to be reburied as soon as possible.
Many American Indian people are very concerned about the respectful treatment of human remains. At Crow Creek, the remains were treated respectfully. Holy people conducted ceremonies. Indian people worked as both excavators and guards at the site.
If you wish to know more about American Indian concerns about human remains, please read about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the federal law that covers their proper treatment. You should also know that many states also have laws protecting these remains, even on private land where the state of Iowa is a good example.
You may now go on to read about the Crow Creek Site Massacre information page at the University of South Dakota Anthropology Department homepage.
If you wish to know more about the reburial at Crow Creek, you can read a short text by following links here, on the Crow Creek Site Page, or from the Crow Creek Paleopathology Page.
This site is sponsered by:
The University of Iowa Department of Anthropology
The University of South Dakota Department of Anthropology
The University of South Dakota School of Medicine