Dismal River culture
| Geographical range | Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota |
|---|---|
| Period | Formative stage |
| Dates | 1650–1750 |
| Type site | Lovitt Site in Dismal River area of Nebraska |
| Major sites | Scott County State Park (Kansas) |
| Preceded by | Archaic |
The Dismal River culture is a Central Plains Indigenous culture dating from 1650 and 1750. The Dismal River people are believed to have spoken an Athabascan language and to have been part of the people later known to Europeans as the Plains Apache, who are enrolled in the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma today.
In the 1930s, archaeologists William Duncan Strong, Waldo Rudolph Wedel, and A. T. Hill observed the defining set of cultural attributes in the Dismal River area of Nebraska. The culture is also known as Dismal River aspect and Dismal River complex and differs from other contemporaneous Central Plains and Woodland traditions of the western Plains.