There were at least ten different tribes, many of which spoke a distinctive Siouan dialect. The Jenrette site was home to one group. From the 90 features archaeologists mapped and excavated there in 1989-1990, the village had at least three buildings located within a palisade . Archaeologists also found places near and between the buildings where people had dug earthen basins for different purposes, such as smoking deerskins, preparing food, and discarding trash. In other places in the village, there were graves where people had buried their dead.
Archaeologists have specific names for each type of feature they find.
People dug a large, shallow pit and then layered the bottom with wood and rocks. The wood was lit and allowed to burn, creating a bed of glowing coals and hot rocks. A deer was roasted by covering this bed with leaves, placing the animal on top, then covering the pit with additional leaves and earth. When found by archaeologists, such pits typically contain charcoal, fire-cracked rocks, as well as the bones of the animals that were cooked and eaten. Storage pits were used to store possessions.