Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

Site types range across the full spectrum, from lithic scatters and tool production sites, quarry
sites, and habitation sites with tipi rings, to field-camp sites, game drives, kill sites and
processing areas, rock cairns, and related occupation and use areas.
Late Precontact/Late Prehistoric Period
The major shift in technology that occurred at the beginning of the Late Precontact/Late
Prehistoric Period (ca. 1,500 B.P.–200 B.P.) throughout Montana is the introduction of the bow
and arrow (Frison, 1991; Kornfeld et al., 2010). Large game hunting, with a focus on bison
procurement, including communal kills and hunting, is seen as the primary subsistence
adaptation of the time (Aaberg, 2006:185). Many other species of game and smaller animals
were also acquired, often throughout a broader seasonal schedule.
Other cultural attributes of the period within Montana include relatively large quantities of
projectile points and point preforms, large numbers and types of bone and sandstone tools, as
well as faunal remains from rodents and large ungulates (Fredlund 1988). Ceramics also have
been identified at sites in the northern extent of the Plains (Johnson, 1988; Quigg, 1988).
As is the case with the earlier period, site types during this time range across the full spectrum,
from lithic scatters and tool production sites, quarry sites, and habitation sites with tipi rings, to
field-camp sites, game drives, kill sites and processing areas, rock cairns, trails, and related
occupation, ceremonial sites, and use areas.
Postcontact/Protohistoric Period
The beginning of the Postcontact/Protohistoric Period (ca. 250 B.P.–100 B.P.) is generally
defined as the time during which the horse and European trade goods were introduced to native
cultures. The acquisition of the horse, guns, metal knives, and other goods from the eastern
United States caused a dramatic change in the established but dynamic cultures of the Native
American’s residing in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains. As a result,
hunting and subsistence strategies began to change at this time as well.
The Post contact Period resulted in a blending of cultural artifacts, tools, and cultural activities –
a combining of traditional technologies and items with newly acquired trade items. The
traditional tool kit was supplemented by factory made fabrics, European-style clothing and
ornaments, trade beads, guns, and ammunition, as well as metal objects, including tools,
cookware, knives, arrow points, axes, and lances.
1.1.5 WEST OF THE ROCKIES (WOR) REGION
1.1.5.1 States of Washington and Idaho
Two Native American Culture Areas, defined over the past century by anthropologists and
archaeologists, provide a useful characterization of the pre-contact archaeology and ethnography
of Washington and Idaho within the Northern Border Programmatic Environmental Impact
Statement (PEIS) project area. The Northwest Coast Culture Area (Figure H-3) is comprised of
linguistic groups that inhabited the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada, from northern
California to the Alaskan Panhandle and extending inland one hundred miles or more into the
Cascade and Coastal mountain ranges. The Plateau and Northern Rocky Mountain Culture Area
(Figure H-4) is comprised of linguistic groups inhabiting intermontane western North America
Northern Border Activities H-55 July 2012