What role did the introduction of maize horticulture play in regional Mississippian contact, and how did this system of production change between ca. Both federal and state law require that archaeologists have a license from the Office of the State Archaeologist before beginning to dig. A great deal of the Bryan site had already been destroyed by gravel quarrying by the early 1980s. Archaeologists were able to work in a small part of the original village in the northwestern part of the property, and discovered a wealth of evidence for Mississippian and Oneota culture on the bluff above the Cannon River. Houses were clustered in different parts of the site.
Most houses seem to have been surrounded by a circle of trash pits.
The locations of pits can therefore be used to guess where other houses may have been. In 1983, archaeologists discovered this row of postmolds. The archaeologists used a variety of very precise techniques to gather as much data as possible, including water screening, and flotation, which helps scholars recover seeds and other tiny materials that would otherwise be lost. Artist's reconstruction of life at the Bryan site. This artist's reconstruction shows one possible interpretation of the Bryan site during its occupation.