In 1957, as the last traces of the Arikara civilization were about to slip beneath the waters of progress, the Smithsonian Institution sent me out to help excavate as much as possible in the little time remaining.
-- Narrator (Chapter 2 paragraph NA)

Importance: Bass describes how he became involved in exhuming the graves of the Arikara Indians in advance of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers flooding of the Missouri River. Bass reports that he helped excavate between four and five thousand graves during the 14 summers that he worked with the Smithsonian Institute.

The adult victim I examined that day back in 1962 — the one that would become my teaching partner — was not reduced to bare bones.
-- Narrator (Chapter 3 paragraph NA)

Importance: Bass describes how the bones of Mary Louise Downing still had flesh and muscles attached to them. He had to boil and clean these bones before he could properly study them and determine the age, race, stature, and gender of...