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Watch - The First Hunters and Farmers

Dakota Pathways

The First Hunters and Farmers

Take an exciting journey through more than a thousand years of South Dakota history with this Emmy Award-winning twenty-episode series. From our state’s ancient beginnings through contemporary times, Dakota Pathways: A History brings the stories of South Dakota’s people and places to life.


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The First Hunters and Farmers The region we call South Dakota has not always been home to its present population. In very early times, Mammoth Hunters lived and roamed the area.

After them came the people of the corn, Paleo-Indian tribes, that moved up into the region from Mexico, following the rivers that supplied water for their crops of corn, squash, and beans. Later, the Mandan, Arikara, and Dakota people moved into the region. This episode looks at our history through the eyes of paleontologists, scientists who explore the past by examining the remains of ancient cultures.


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