The Dismal River culture refers to a set of cultural attributes first seen in the Dismal River area of Nebraska in the 1930s by archaeologists William Duncan Strong, Waldo Rudolph Wedel and A. T. Hill. Also known as Dismal River aspect and Dismal River complex, dated between 1650-1750 A.D., is different from other prehistoric Central Plains and Woodland traditions of the western Plains. 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 Apaches. Western Plains Dismal River culture sites have been found in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado and South Dakota. 18 sites were located in Hayes, Hooker, Cherry, Thomas and Lincoln counties in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. Notable sites include: The first Dismal River location, the Lovett Site, in southwestern Nebraska. Findings at an archaeological site at Scott County State Park in Kansas that ties the Plains Apache to the Dismal River culture. Other village cultures of the Western Plains include the Antelope Creek Phase, Apishapa culture, Purgatoire Phase and Upper Purgatoire complex. Apache The Apache evolved from the Athapascan who migrated onto the North American continent through the current state of Alaska and northwestern Canada. There are two theories about how the Apache ancestors migrated into the Plains and southwestern United States. They may have traveled through the mountains, staying in a climate that they were accustomed to, or they may have migrated along the plains. Their descendants, the Navajo and Apache, speak Athabaskan languages. The Apache bands generally attributed to the Dismal River culture are the Paloma and Quartelejo (also Cuartelejo) Apache people. Jicarilla Apache pottery has also been found in some of the Dismal River complex sites. Some of the Dismal River people joined the Kiowa in the Black Hills of South Dakota to become the Kiowa-Apache or Plains Apache, migrating south to Texas and Oklahoma early in the 19th century. Most of the Dismal River people migrated south in the first half of the 18th century due to pressure from the Comanche from the west and Pawnee and French from the east. They later joined the Lipan Apache and Jicarilla Apache nations. There have been no sites found to date of the period in which the Southern Athabaskans were nomadic, starting about 1500 A.D. Architecture Dismal River villages generally had 15-20 structures and were located near streams. Round houses, shaped