INTRODUCTION
The Minnesota Historical Society's Archaeology Departmentand the Minnesota Archaeological Research Program (MARP) are pleased to welcome you to internet access of ongoing archaeological excavations at a multi-component site containing occupations associated with the 19th century American fur trade and elements of the heritage of pre-contact Native Americans. Near the juncture of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, this site is now within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

This page is an open invitation to visit us and our Public Archaeology program which operates at the American Fur Company/Sibley House site Monday through Friday through mid-September 1996. Visitors to the site learn first-hand and "hands-on" how archaeologists go about their work, what they are finding, and what it all means. The excavations provide a unique opportunity to work with archaeologists re-discovering Minnesota's heritage. For those who cannot visit the Minnesota Historical Society's excavations in Mendota, MN, the information presented here will provide our internet colleagues with the results of each of the previous week's work.

This web site is a weekly update of the ongoing excavations at the Henry Hastings Sibley House and American Fur Company District Headquarters located in Mendota, Minnesota. The current project began with initial testing in April--May 1995 and a second testing phase was conducted during Spring 1996. Major excavations began in June and will continue through mid-September 1996.

The project is being directed by Dr. Robert A. Clouse, head of the MHS Archaeology Department and adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Elizabeth Knudson Steiner, senior research archaeologist/historian, is serving as assistant field director and Ms. Samantha Grantham, senior research archaeologist, in addition to field duties, also directs laboratory processing of site materials.

The site (21DK31) is well-stratified and contains identifiable horizons associated with multiple 19th century occupations. Below these levels is nearly 1 meter of natural soil with at least three pre-European contact habitations. These occupations have been identified as belonging to the Late Archaic, Middle Woodland, and Late Woodland Periods. Excavations are utilizing stratigraphic methods and tracking cultural strata relationships with the Harris Matrix recording system. Recent papers by Clouse and Steiner (1996a, 1996b) describe the critical need for such an approach if researchers hope to advance the interpretability of archaeological data. The research project is focusing on answering specific questions about 1) the American Fur Company district headquarters trading operations which includes standing structures that were the homes of H. H. Sibley and J. B. Faribault, and 2) the nature of the pre-Euroamerican contact Native American occupations.

MHS PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY PROGRAM
The MHS Archaeology Department excavations provide an opportunity for interested members of the public to participate in and to gain first hand information about the site and the archaeological research process. Because the site is open to the public as an interpreted historic site, a variety of opportunities are available to present archaeology to the public. Last year over 1,900 individuals visited the site and gained first hand information about the archaeological program. Public programming at the site during 1996 has already directly reached over 2,900 individuals. E-mail MARP to find out more about archaeology and archaeological opportunities.

BRIEF SITE HISTORY
Mendota, meaning "meeting of waters" in the Dakota language, is the oldest permanent Euroamerican settlement in Minnesota. The town began in the 1820s as a regional fur trading headquarters for the American Fur Company. Today preserved elements of that early occupation have been designated as the Mendota National Register District. The district is the site of the oldest private residence in the state built in 1836-7 by Henry Hastings Sibley. Sibley has been described as "one of the most prominent figures in Minnesota history." Next door to the Sibley house is the stone home of Jean Baptiste Faribault, a pioneer fur trader, that was erected ca. 1839-40. In the southeast corner of the district is the 1854 brick home of Hypolite Du Puis, Sibley's clerk. Two city blocks to the southwest stands St. Peter's Catholic Church, constructed in 1853 and now the oldest church building in continuous use in the state.

The Sibley House has been called the "Mount Vernon of Minnesota." From 1835 to 1862 it was the residence of Henry H. Sibley - fur trader, member of the constitutional convention, delegate to Congress, civic leader, military leader during the US- Dakota Conflict of 1862, and first governor of the state of Minnesota. When it was constructed the house served as a fur trade center and locus of hospitality on the frontier; later, as the region developed, it became the governor's mansion. Completed in 1837, the structure was built of limestone quarried from the adjacent bluffs. The house had two stories and a cellar. Initially all the cooking was done in the basement, later this was carried out in an addition to the house and in a separate summer kitchen. In 1843, Sibley married Sarah Jane Steele and the trading house and 'hunting lodge' was converted to a fashionable family home. About this time a new addition was constructed at the rear to provide a kitchen, dining room and two additional bedrooms. In the early 1850s a small, single storey wing was added to the east side of the house for an office. The house became the center of family life and nine children were born to the Sibleys there.

Sibley directed the fur trade of an area stretching from the Mississippi to the Missouri Rivers. Annually, hundreds of voyageurs, Native Americans, and traders converged upon Mendota, bringing furs by canoe and oxcart. Employees in stone warehouses that once stood on the riverbank packed pelts for shipment to the east. A year after Sibley's arrival the total value of the furs collected by what was then called the "Sioux Outfit" was nearly $60,000.

In 1862 he built a new home and moved his family to St. Paul and a few years later sold the Mendota house to the Catholic church. From 1867 to 1878 the Sisters of St. Joseph conducted a parochial school there. By the time of Sibley's death in 1891, it had become a virtual ruin. To that "rustic" advantage it served as a summer art school during the 1890s. After that it served as a warehouse for the railroad and finally as a habitat for the homeless.

The site was rescued by the St. Paul chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The DAR Sibley House Association restored the house and opened it to the public in June, 1910. In June, 1996 the site was transferred to the State of Minnesota and is now a site in the Minnesota Historical Society's historic sites network.

FIELD METHODS
Standard MHS Archaeology Department field methodology protocol is being employed at the Sibley site. This protocol consists of the use of stratigraphic excavation methods within formal 1-x-1 meter units (often combined into 1-x-2 meter blocks) carried to culturally sterile subsoil. Research by Clouse and Steiner (1996a, 1996b) and Harris (1989, 1993) describe the critical need for such an approach if researchers hope to advance the interpretability of archaeological data. All soil is removed in 1-x-1 or 1-x-2 meter blocks in the reverse order of the cultural deposition. In the absence of such recognizable deposits, arbitrarily defined levels no greater than five centimeters thick are employed. Where relevant, additional recording techniques such as artifact piece-plotting is implemented to assist in the analytical process. Normal processing of soil utilizes a 1/4 inch mesh shaker screen. In instances where relatively small artifacts (e.g. beads, pins, waste flakes, and small bones) are documented or the potential for their recovery exists, soil is processed by wet screening through window screen and/or 40 micron mesh separators. Samples extracted for flotation are bagged separately and processed through standard flotation techniques in the laboratory.

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© 1996 Robert A. Clouse. All rights reserved.