Doug's Dig: Weighing the evidence

Why does archaeologist Doug Birk think that the fort was there in about 1750?

Because they found certain types of dishes and glass beads from the period of 1750 to 1775. Another clue: The fort's geographical location. It sits in a war zone between the Dakota and Ojibwe peoples of the mid-1700s. The fort must have been built before fighting escalated. After the fighting grew fierce, much of central Minnesota became an unoccupied "no-man's land" until after 1800.

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