The Anzick Site: A Rocky Mountain locale featuring recurrent human utilization across the millenia.

Summary

The Anzick Site is a multi-component archaeological site located at approximately 5,000 ft above sea level in the Shields River Valley of south central Montana. Included in the archaeological discoveries at the site are the fragmentary human remains of two individuals as well as an assemblage of approximately 115 lithic and osseous tools diagnostic of Clovis Culture technology. This assemblage of tools was thickly covered with red ochre, as was one set of remains, presumably indicating a burial from which osseous tool samples were dated to approximately 11,000 radio carbon years before present (rcybp) with the remains dating to approximately 10,780 rcybp. The other set of remains, discovered 30 feet distant and uphill from the ochre-covered remains dates to approximately 8,600 rcybp and are thought to be from a separate interment. Representing a continual human presence in the Rocky Mountains of Montana, there is still much to learn from The Anzick Site. In this paper, I consider scientific and theoretical techniques by which we may elucidate the meaning of this site, utilizing in-depth analysis of the artifact assemblage attributes along with further logical reflection on tangible facts since its accidental discovery in 1968.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• The Role of High Altitude Landscapes in the Peopling of the New World

Keywords

Spatial Coverage