A thriving earthlodge village stood here, and subtle dips and wrinkles in the ground preserve evidence of its life and death. Circular mounds and depressions show evidence of 113 earthlodges that held about a thousand Hidatsa people, along with hundreds of dogs and horses. A line of high brush marks the location of a fortification ditch and palisade that surrounded the village for defense against Sioux raiding parties. Disease, however, proved deadlier than attack, and notches in the northern ridgeline indicate travois trails last used when survivors of smallpox abandoned the area.