Thomsen Center Archeodome – Mitchell, South Dakota 57301
Come and experience The Thomsen Center Archeodome which covers the open archeology dig in the prehistoric Indian village and provides visitors year-round access.
The 10,000 square-foot building encloses two full lodges on its exposed earthen floor. It includes a full laboratory, darkroom, computer classroom, and video conferencing studio. The site is the only preserved protected archeological site open to the public in the state of South Dakota. The Archeodome provides an enclosed archeological teaching and research facility—one of very few such facilities in North America.
What is there to see?
The Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village is a very special center as you will not only get to explore a 1,000-year-old settlement, but also see how archeologists go about reconstructing the past when there are no written records. In the Boehnen Museum and Patton Gallery there is a model of how the village might have looked 1,000 years ago. As you make your way from the museum to the archeodome look over the landscape and see if you can see the depressions marking the location of lodges, or the outlines of the two ditches that surrounded part of the site. The museum also houses a reconstructed life-sized lodge and many displays relating to village life.
On you way to the archeodome you will be in the village itself. Rock art incised stones (that you can make rubbings with) line the pathway, while other rock art adorns the walls and interior of the archeodome. Make sure to look for these. Books on rock art are also for sale in the Gift Shop. There are displays of native garden crops near the walkway shelters. Inside the archeodome you enter the world of the archeologist. Here, when funding permits, archeologists work at excavation and analysis of the materials they recover. When the archeologists are not working, your guide will point out the features exposed on the excavation floor and the types of activities undertaken in the laboratory. Sometimes there are opportunities for visitors to undertake some hands-on work themselves. Also in the archeodome are exhibits and displays explaining some of the work the archeologists do and a major display on the origins and spread of maize (corn) horticulture—which is of such importance to this region today.
How often are archeologists working?
Archeology is a very labor-intensive profession. At a site like Mitchell, a few weeks excavation can produce so many artifacts that several months of analysis are needed to interpret and write up the results of that work. Much of this archeological activity happens behind the scenes—sorting, cataloging and analyzing the materials that are recovered. Some of the Mitchell Indian Village work goes on in the laboratory in the archeodome, some takes place at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, and other work is done by specialists from across the country and around the world.
All archeological excavation is destruction, which is why so much of the excavation process is the recording of where every artifact is located, in what type of soil or deposit the artifact is lying, and how the artifact relates to other artifacts or features. Before undertaking any excavation, interested people should ideally undergo some training and background in archeology. At the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village we are looking into providing the opportunity to obtain such training and to excavate under professional archeological supervision. Such programs do require funding and time to develop.
Hours
April & October
Monday – Friday 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
May & September
Daily – 9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Memorial Weekend – Labor Day
Daily – 8:00 am – 6:00 pm
November – March
CLOSED
Hours may vary for special scheduled events.
Admission:
$6.00 – Adults
$5.00 – Seniors (60 and over)
$4.00 – (Ages 6-18)
Free – (Five and under)
$2.00 each – Student Group Rate (Ages 6-18) (10 or more)
BUS TOUR GROUPS WELCOME…..Call for special rate
Directions
The Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village is located at 3200 Indian Village Road, on the shores of Lake Mitchell, two miles north of the downtown area in Mitchell, South Dakota. Signs and yellow banners mark the way straight north of the Corn Palace.
Phone: (605) 996-5473