Because it hasn't been fully excavated, no one is certain how big it was. Some experts think it could have had a population of 500 at its peak. They lived in wood-frame huts, perhaps covered with bark siding. Women were primarily responsible for agriculture and food production, while men bore responsibility for hunting game. To modern noses, the village's stench would have been horrid.
Carcasses lay everywhere.
Hides were being tanned, a smelly process in itself. And a wealth of clues about what life was like 1,000 years ago. The midafternoon sun is soft in the fall, and down on the shaded banks of the Cannon River, a gentle breeze rustles the trees and shakes loose yellowing leaves. Some succumb to the lazy current and begin a slow parade downstream to where the Cannon empties into the Mississippi. A thousand years ago, this area was prairie.