Fortified Village

Off Splitrock Blvd on the South side of Brandon is a historical marker called Fortified Village, and it talks about the only documented prehistoric fortified village in Minnehaha County that they believe only existed from 1000 to 1200 AD. The big question is why did this village feel the need to be fortified? This is something we will probably never know though there are some educated guesses.  

The village itself was 37 lodges that had ravines on 3 sides of the village. On the 4th side the villagers dug a ditch to act as a barrier. (A fortification to keep unwanted people out?)

Dr. W.H. Over was the man who would lead the excavation on the site. Starting in 1922 with recording the details of the site and the excavation from 1939-1940 if W.H. Over sounds familiar then possibly you have been to his museum. In Vermillion the W.H. Over museum showcases Dr. Overs’s life work of acquiring natural and cultural history objects and putting them on display for anyone to learn from and enjoy them. He would collect over 60 thousand artifacts in his life. Which in and of itself is a complicated piece of history but I also grew up with Indiana Jones and I can hear him saying “it belongs in a museum”  

The village site was thoroughly excavated and places on the national register of historic places in 2001 and it about half a mile west of the historical marker we can visit today to learn more about the village and make our own guess to who they were trying to keep out!