Oral History and Archaeology: A Case from Crow Country

Summary

Arrow Rock, located in the Pryor Mountains of southern Montana, is a place for travelers to offer gifts in return for their safe passage through the Pryor Gap. These gifts are mostly left by members of the Crow community and meant for the Awa-Kulay, or Little People, living in the mountains. The Little People are described as dwarves that are both human and supernatural beings that can act as spiritual guides for the Crow Tribe. Throughout Crow history stories are told of the Little People being seen across Crow Country, visiting individuals during vision quests, and at larger social events. Arrow Rock is an important location for the relationship between the Crow and the Little People because it is said to be where they met for the first time. Arrow Rock is also unique for archaeologists due to two archaeological collections of gifts left for the Little People. The first was excavated in 1939 by Oscar T. Lewis and the second by Nels Nelson in 1946. This paper presents the initial findings of a reanalysis of those collections in conjunction with Crow Oral Histories.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage