Carl M. Davis

McKean Complex Projectile Point Typology and Function in the Pine Parklands

McKean complex projectile point typology has been of keen interest to Plains archaeologists since the early 1950s. This article examines the typological and functional relationships of McKean complex points from the Lightning Spring, McKean, Red Fox and Scoggin sites in the Pine Parklands area of the northwestern Plains. Techno-morphological study of these assemblages demonstrates that Duncan and Hanna are a single form, while the McKean Lanceolate and Mallory are separate types. The article proposes that the three McKean complex point types functioned within a multiple weapons system: Duncan-Hanna points were atlatl darts while McKean Lanceolates, and possibly Mallory points, were used on thrusting spears.

AMS Dates from Four Late Prehistoric Period Rock Art Sites in West Central Montana

Abstract In 2002, eight pigment samples were collected from three rock art sites in the Big Belt Mountains of west central Montana. Samples from Hellgate Gulch (24BW9), Avalanche Mouth (24BW19), and the Gates of the Mountains (24LC27) were dated using plasma-chemical extraction and accelerator mass spectrometry. The dates were statistically indistinguishable with ages of 11701 ± 45, 1225 ± 50, and 1280 1 ± 50 B.P. When calibrated, these ages range from 650 to 990 cal A.D. This corresponds to the early Late Prehistoric period on the Northwestern Plains. An oxalate accretion sample overlying a painted area at another site, Big Log Gulch (24LCI707), provided a minimum age of 1440 ± 45 B.P. for the rock art present at this site. The dated images at the four sites fit within the Foothills Abstract and Eastern Columbia Plateau rock art traditions.

Pass Creek Wickiups: Northern Shoshone Hunting Lodges in Southwestern Montana

AbstractThe Pass Creek site is composed of two conical timbered lodges located in the Bitterroot Mountains of southwestern Montana. Construction techniques and geographic location indicate the lodg...

Radiocarbon analyses of four perishable artifacts from Ghost and Pictograph caves, Montana

Abstract Pictograph and Ghost caves in Empty Gulch, Montana, yielded an extensive collection of perishable items during Works Progress Administration excavations in the late 1930s. Recent radiocarbon analyses of four perishable artifacts from both caves yielded Late Prehistoric period dates. The dated coiled basketry from Ghost Cave indicates either direct or intermediary trade with Northeastern Great Basin or Fremont groups or an ancient and widespread basketry tradition that is poorly documented on the Northwestern Plains. Perishable artifacts are rarely preserved in archaeological contexts on the Plains and broaden our understanding of Late Prehistoric period hunters and gatherers.

Not in warfare alone: Conical timber lodges in the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains

Abstract Conical timber lodges are a well known but little investigated archaeological feature of the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains. These perishable wood structures are commonly regarded as war lodges or short-term shelters built by Plains Indian groups during the Protohistoric and Historic periods. Archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic data show that this interpretation is too narrow. Conical timber lodges served a diversity of purposes as temporary shelters, special activity sites, and domiciles.