BISMARCK – A new book, “Traces: Early Peoples of North Dakota,” was recently published by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Authors Barbara Handy-Marchello and Fern Swenson summarize the archaeology of North Dakota from the arrival of the earliest known people 13,500 years ago to 1880. Handy-Marchello works with the North Dakota Studies Program of the agency and Swenson is director of the Archaeology & Historic Preservation Division.

The book expands upon exhibits at the North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum in Bismarck, providing greater depth to discoveries explaining where people came from, their work, and innovations that propelled them into modern times. Calvin Grinnell, historian for the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, wrote the foreword. “Traces,” designed by Lucy Annis Ganje, includes images of objects from State Historical Society collections and original paintings and maps. The project was made possible by funding from the PaleoCultural Research Group and the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.

“Traces” costs $25 plus tax and is available at the North Dakota Heritage Center Museum Store in Bismarck. It can be ordered online at statemuseum.nd.gov/store, by phone at 328-2822, or by emailing museumstore@nd.gov.