Research Catalog

Title

Montana before history : 11,000 years of hunter-gatherers in the Rockies and Plains / Douglas H. MacDonald.

Author

MacDonald, Douglas H., 1968-

Publication

Missoula, Mont. : Mountain Press Pub. Company, c2012.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

vii, 194 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps; 23 cm.

Summary

Dig into Montana's past with this guide to the state's best archaeological sites. A cache north of Livingston, the oldest known evidence of humans in Montana, was left by mammoth hunters more than 11,000 years ago. Their cultural descendents survived in Montana until modern times, hunting game and gathering roots and berries. Montana Before History, organized chronologically from the Paleoindian period to the Late Prehistoric period, details how Montana's early peoples adapted to the rugged environment and several dramatic changes in climate. Learn how they hunted bison and other game before the introduction of the horse, how archaeologists can identify a culture by its projectile point, and where Montana s original hard-rock miners worked their quarries--back cover.

Subject

• Paleo-Indians > Montana
• Hunting and gathering societies > Montana
• Archaeology > Montana
• Montana > Antiquities

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p.167-186) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Acknowledgments -- The hunter-gatherers of Montana -- History of archaeological research in Montana -- The Montana environment -- Animal hunting -- Stone and stone tools -- Rock art -- The earliest peoples of Montana: the Paleoindian Period (11,000 to 8,000 years ago) -- Early Paleoindian Period -- Clovis culture -- Goshen culture -- Folsom culture -- Late Paleoindian Period -- Agate Basin/Hell Gap complex -- Foothill/mountain complex -- Cody complex -- Human adaptation during the Altithermal: the early plains Archaic Period (8,000 to 5,000 years ago) -- A time of transition: the Middle Plains Archaic Period (5,000 to 3,000 years ago) -- Oxbow and McKean points -- Middle Plains Archaic sites in Montana -- Middle Plains Archaic sites outside Montana -- The early buffalo hunters: the Late Plains Archaic Period (3,000 to 1,500 years ago) -- Bison hunting -- Trade -- Pelican Lake and Besant projectile points -- Besant pottery -- Late Plains archaic sites in Montana -- Late Plains archaic sites outside Montana -- The era of buffalo hunters and villages: the Late Prehistoric Period (1,500 to 300 years ago) -- The bow and arrow -- Stone circles -- Pottery -- Late Prehistoric villages -- Late Prehistoric sites in western Montana -- Buffalo hunting and processing sites -- Pronghorn hunting sites -- Bighorn sheep hunting camps -- Contemporary tribes and future work -- Questions for future archaeologists -- Appendix: sites, site numbers, and periods of occupation -- Glossary -- References -- Index.

ISBN

• 9780878425853 (pbk. : alk. paper)
• 0878425853 (pbk. : alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2011046449

OCLC

766607242

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library