Geographic and Chronological Differences in Lithic Raw Material Use by Hunter-Gatherers in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Summary

Over the last eight years, the University of Montana has conducted archaeological research at various sites in Yellowstone National Park and vicinity. One aspect of our research is to study variation in hunter-gatherer lithic raw material procurement and use. From north to south and east to west within the region, there are extreme variations in hunter-gatherer use of a number of distinct volcanic and non-volcanic lithic raw materials. This variation can be used to evaluate geographic differences in land-use across the region. The lithic raw material data are useful in the evaluation of whether one group (single-user model) or many groups (multi-user model) of hunter-gatherers used the region in prehistory. We can also evaluate how land and material use may have changed (or not changed) over the last 11,000 years. Ultimately, answers to these questions allow for a better understanding of how hunter-gatherers incorporated Yellowstone into their land-use systems in the past.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Solving Archaeological Research Problems in Rocky Mountain and Plains Prehistory

Keywords

Spatial Coverage