Plains: Earth Lodge Clusters in On-a-Slant Village
Earth lodges provided solid permanent housing for people of the Eastern Plains. These lodges clustered together to create thriving agricultural communities along waterways. The rive gave them a chance to not only provide for their own needs, but trade, too. The farms produced a surplus for trade, and from 900 CE on, eastern Plains farming communities engaged in long-distance trade.
One community, the Mandan nation’s On-a-Slant Village housed seventy-five to eighty tightly-placed earth lodges clustered around a central plaza. On-a-Slant village was built along a river bluff, which gave them the defensive advantage of being able to watch the river for attackers. Additionally, the city had a high wall around its perimeter to protect them from an overland attack. The defenses and trading allowed On-a-Slant Village to reach a population of about 1,000 people. It flourished for about 200 years until the 1780s, when smallpox ravaged its population.
