About 10,000 years ago, following the retreat of the glacial ice sheets, a period which archaeologists call the Archaic began. In Montana, the Laurentide ice sheet had extended as far south as the Missouri River. With regard to climate, the period following the Ice Ages was a relatively warm time period known as the Altithermal.
The era between about 2500 BCE and 50 CE on the Northern Plains—an area which includes most of what is now the state of Montana—is called the Late Archaic by archaeologists. This is a period of climate change known as the Medithermal Period in which temperatures decline to modern levels. During this time, the vegetation and fauna became similar to those of today. Both human and bison populations on the Northern Plains increased.
Concerning the impact of this climate change on the Plains, Richard Forbis, in his Columbia University Ph.D. dissertation on the MacHaffie site, reports:
“The Medithermal marked a return of cooler temperatures. Probably its effect on the Plains was a reduction in the number, intensity, and duration of drought periods and a gradual westward and southward return of the grasslands. And with the grasslands, capable of supporting year-round grazing, bison reappeared in great numbers; man followed the buffalo. All bison of the Medithermal period appear to be modern species.”
In her textbook North American Indians: A Comprehensive Account, Alice Kehoe reports:
“By about 2500 B.C., aridity on the High Plains was lessening and bison populations were recovering from their low.”
The lifeways of American Indian people during this time can be described as hunting and gathering bands, living in small groups and occupying campsites for relatively short periods of time on a seasonal basis. Their nomadism was not random, but was determined by their in-depth knowledge of geography, the seasons, and the plants and animals within their territories. They exploited a wide variety of different plants and hunted both big game and small game animals.
At sites where the people gathered plants, such as seeds, grinding stones were used in food processing. These stones were too large and heavy to be easily transported, so they would be left in situ to be used again when the band returned.
Shown above is an example of a grinding stone on display in the Museum of the Upper Missouri, Fort Benton, Montana.
While the people made some tools out of wood, bone, and antler, the most durable tools, usually the ones found by today’s archaeologists, were made out of stone. In making stone tools with a sharp edge, such as knives and spear points, it is important to realize that not all stone breaks in such a fashion as to create a durable, sharp edge. Materials for making stone tools were obtained either from special quarries or from trade with other bands. In his book Six Hundred Generations: An Archaeological History of Montana, archaeologists Carl Davis writes:
“Geological deposits of fine-grained chert, flint, quartzite, and other types of toolstone are found in thousands of places across Montana and neighboring states. In many areas, toolstone was simply collected by hunters and gatherers from exposed outcrops or in gravel terraces and streambeds, sometimes only as small pebbles.”
Trade networks distributed both stones and stone artifacts over long distances.
Shown above is a display in the Heritage Museum in Libby, Montana.
Shown above is a display in the Museum of the Upper Missouri, Fort Benton, Montana.
At major quarry sites, Indian people dug into the ground with bone and antler digging tools to obtain large nodules of quality stone for making tools. Quarries were often a maze of open pits.
With regard to the archaeological record in Montana, Richard Forbis reports:
“The raw material for archeology in Montana consists largely of campsites (most often entirely lithic in content), workshops, scattered hearths and tipi rings, bison kills and traps, trailside offertory stone heaps, burials, and pictographs. Chipped stone work, often found out of meaningful association, is common while ground stone is rare.”
Briefly described below are some of the archaeological sites in Montana from the Late Archaic Period.
About 2500 BCE, Indian people constructed a stone circle at the Airport Rings site along the Yellowstone River near present-day Gardiner. The obsidian found at the site came from Obsidian Cliff which is about 20 miles to the south. The people were also using chert from the Crescent Hill Formation near Mammoth Hot Springs in Wyoming.
By 2500 BCE, the Indian people at the Sun River site had switched their diet to one which used more bison.
About 2450 BCE, Indian people at the Buckeye site on the northern edge of the Bighorn Basin were hunting pronghorn. They were also gathering mussels and prickly pear cactus.
About 2050 BCE, Indian people at the Spiro Site constructed several pit houses. The site is located in the northern portion of the Bighorn Basin, one of the hottest places in Montana. Archaeologist Douglas MacDonald, in his book Montana Before History: 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains, writes:
“The pit houses measure between 5 and 15 feet in diameter and range in depth from 10 to 20 inches below the ground surface.”
Animal remains indicate that the people were eating rabbit, deer, sheep, and bison. The primary fuel was sagebrush. The people were also collecting goosefoot, prickly pear cactus, and sunflowers.
By 2040 BCE, Indian people were occupying the Janney Rockshelter (24BH1117).
About 1900 BCE, Indian people at the Rattlesnake Point Site (24BH2317) were utilizing tipis. They were using tools associated with the McKean Complex. The McKean Complex is a tool tradition which emerged about 3000 BCE on the Northern Plains. There was a focus on communal buffalo kills as well as the communal hunting of deer, pronghorn, and mountain sheep. The McKean projectile point is lanceolate in shape.
One of the distinctive features of the McKean Complex is the side-notched knife that is similar to a large projectile point. In her University of Montana M.A. Professional Paper Prehistoric Cultural Resources of the Whitetail Pipestone Area, Jefferson County, Montana: An Overview and Implications for Cultural Resource Managers, archaeologist Sandra Morris reports:
“This tool is apparently resharpened on one blade edge until worn out and discarded.”
By 1850 BCE, Indian people were occupying the Dagan site (24BH2622).
On the Northern Plains, Indian people began making the corner-notched projectile points which archaeologists call Pelican Lake. At this time there was a shift toward cooler and wetter summers. There was also an increase in mass buffalo kills using both the pound and the jump. In their chapter in the Handbook of North American Indians, Ian Dyck and Richard Morlan report:
“Proliferation of mass hunting during Pelican Lake times may have been due to an increasing density in bison populations.”
The Inissimi Complex begins about 1500 BCE and diffuses from southeastern British Columbia into northwestern Montana. The Inissimi points have an expanding stem, a convex base, pronounced shoulders and excurvate blade edges.
By 1100 BCE, Indian people were using the bison trap at the Powers-Yonkee site (24PR5). During what archaeologists call the Yonkee Phase, Indian hunters were engaging in seasonal communal hunts which utilized jumps, traps, and impounds. Bison processing at the kill sites focused on meat removal rather than complete disarticulation of skeletons. The Yonkee Phase tool kit includes ground stone tools, drills, scrapers, and beveled edge bifacial knives.
Stone tools can be made by breaking (a process commonly called flintknapping, which is used in making spearpoints, knives, scrapers and other cutting instruments and by grinding which is used in producing tools such as hammers, grinding bowls, and dishes.
By 1000 BCE, the Kootenai were hunting mountain sheep high in the mountains of what is now Glacier National Park.
By 1000 BCE, the Kootenai were quarrying chert for making stone tools about 3 miles upstream on Bowman Creek from its confluence with the North Fork of the Flathead River.
By 1000 BCE, Indian people were obtaining stone for toolmaking from the Schmitt Chert Mine (24BW559) near present-day Three Forks. Carl Davis reports:
“The quarry covers the top of a bare knoll overlooking the Missouri River and the Horseshoe Hills.”
Carl Davis describes the process of mining
“Digging with split rib, bone splinter, and antler-tine prying tools, wedges, and picks (such tools are found throughout the rock and soil fill in the Schmitt Chert Mine), these miners found quality chert nodules in manganese-stained limestone fissures and cavities.”
With regard to the Indian people who mined chert at the Schmitt Chert Mine, the corner-notched projectile point styles suggest that the Pelican Lake people—an archaeological designation, not a tribal name—appear to have controlled the mine. Carl Davis writes:
“These people moved between winter camps in sheltered river valleys and summer camps on the hot, windy plains. They were skilled bison hunters. Pelican Lake bands maintained widespread travel networks and trade contracts, as indicated by the presence of distant raw materials, including Knife River Flint from North Dakota, porcellanite or baked shale from southeastern Montana, obsidian from the Yellowstone Plateau, and Pacific coast Olivella seashells.”
Near the quarry is a campsite where people worked the stone into tools. The people are also hunting bison, antelope, elk, deer, jackrabbit, skunk, beaver, and turtle.
By 350 BCE, the Kootenai had established a temporary campsite (24LN1029) on the Kootenai River. It appears to have been a fishing site.
By 280 BCE, Indians were using the Big Creek Sheep site. They were hunting sheep and antelope and using local stones for making their tools.
The Besant Phase begins in the Northern Plains—Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Alberta—about 90 BCE. Indian people at this time were sophisticated buffalo hunters and were engaging in other big game hunting. They were still using the atlatl as their primary hunting weapon. They were also using ground stone tools as well as side-notched projectile points. At some sites on the Upper Missouri River and at some sites in Alberta, the people appear to be using ceramics.
In 50 CE, the first evidence of pottery appears at the Whiskey Hill site (24DW1001). The cord-marked ceramics at this site have the characteristics of a Woodland culture from farther east. This includes the use of net impressing, simple-stamping, and check-stamping as decorative techniques.
More Ancient America
Ancient America is a series exploring the Americas prior to the European invasions. More from this series:
Ancient America: Astronomy
Ancient America: Effigy Mounds
Ancient America: Solar Calendars
Ancient America: Northeast Arizona, 560 BCE to 825 CE
Ancient America: A very short overview of the prehistory of the Grand Canyon
Ancient America: A very short overview of Clovis
Ancient America: California Changes 1,500 Years Ago
Ancient America: Changing Technologies and Trade in California