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<br />This prehistoric era of the Missouri Basin is charac- <br />terized throughout by a stone-age technology, thus <br />limiting the ability of aboriginal peoples to exploit the <br />rich natural environment. <br />The environment, which offered subsistence to the <br />aboriginal people, was affected by climatic conditions, as <br />illustrated by the change from the cold climate of the <br />last glaciation to a more temperate condition, followed <br />by a cycle of progressive "drying up" of the Plains. The <br />latter situation, coupled with the extinction of the large <br />pleistocene game animals, forced the Foragers to depend <br />on smaller game. Also, this compelled adjustments in <br />other phases, such as the size and organization of local <br />populations and changes in tools, weapons, and camp- <br />sites. At the same time, in the extreme eastern part of <br />the basin, hunters and gatherers lived a richer life, since <br />food was readily available. <br />Fully utilizing the forests, these people were among <br />the innovators who produced the "Woodland" culture, <br />which they later transmitted to the Plains areas located <br />along the wooded river courses. As their life had been <br /> <br />geared to forests, they did not frequent or take <br />advantage of resources on the open plains. It remained <br />for the later Village Farmers to inaugurate use of the <br />bison herds as a wild-game supplement to agricultural <br />foods. However, without the horse, the Village Farmers <br />could not hunt bison as efficiently as did the Equestrian <br />Hunters of the 18th and 19th centuries. <br />This impact of earlier human cultures on the land was <br />localized and subtle. Village Farmers, for example, no <br />doubt wrought minor ecological changes on the river <br />terraces where they lived and farmed. But more <br />spectacular change occurred later in the Equestrian <br />Hunter "epoch." Introduction of the horse and sub- <br />sequently firearms for hunting placed at the disposal of <br />the Indian the vast protein supply stored in the meat of <br />the bison herds. <br />For about a century a whole new way of life <br />flourished in the Missouri Basin, based on these herds. <br />Tribes which had farmed up to that time, forsook their <br />cornfields and permanent villages to live as bison-hunting <br />territorial nomads. The great herds of bison, which had <br /> <br /> <br />Archeological Exploration in Fall River County, South Dakota. Similar Explorations Throughout the <br />Basin Furnish Important Clues to the Aboriginal Occupation. <br /> <br />10 <br />