The Oto and Missouria have left impressive archaeological sites, including the Oto-Missouria village near Yutan. The Otos immigrated into eastern Nebraska about 1700, building the Yutan village about 1775; remnants of the Missourias joined them in the 1790s.The village was occupied until 1837. It was the first major Indian settlement seen by fur traders on the journey up the Platte to western bison-hunting and beaver-trapping ranges. Spanish correspondence from 1777 noted the presence of this site that was named after the Chief Ietan.

The Nebraska State Historical Society conducted excavations at Yutan and unearthed true earth lodges unlike the older, square, wattle-and-daub Central Plains village farmer houses. (Wattle is the fabrication of poles interwoven with slender branches or reeds that was used in buildings; daub is the soft adhesive matter used to cover or coat the building, like plaster or mud.) The circular dwellings at Yutan were more advanced earth lodges. They had from four to 10 central roof support posts around a central hearth. The walls were covered with grass and finally with a thick layer of earth that continued onto the roof. The only opening was a central hole in the roof to allow smoke to escape from the central hearth. A tunnel-like entry passage projected from an east or south wall. Deep subterranean storage and refuse pits outside the earth lodges stored corn and other garden surplus. The village was home base for the entire annual round of activities, but for most of the year the people were away on hunting expeditions.

As we move up the archaeological record, sites like Yutan contain increasing quantities of metal knives, hoes, kettles, and other artifacts obtained from European or American traders. Native American artifacts gradually disappear. Beaver and river otter bones are abundant at the Yutan village. The bones are further evidence that the Oto-Missouria people hunted fur-bearing animals for their pelts, which they then traded to Europeans for manufactured tools and ornaments.

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