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Six Hundred Generations: An Archaeological History of Montana
Six Hundred Generations( An Archaeological History of Montana) <> Paperback <> CarlM.Davis <> Riverbend
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
320 pages, Paperback
Published July 2, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 4, 2022
Fascinating look into ~13,000 years of human life in Montana. Very informative but not too technical for a layperson like me to follow. It's the kind of book that frequently has you off on long Google tangents due to the variety of interesting information presented.
August 8, 2021
Six Hundred Generations: An Archaeological History of Montana takes readers on a tour of indigenous history according to the state’s most revealing archaeological sites.
Starting with the Clovis people and the burial of a child and tools at the Anzick site 13,100 years ago, the story transitions from Ice Age hunters to the 12,500-year-old Mill Iron Site where Paleoindians hunted the now extinct Bison antiquus, and from there to the 9,800-year-old Barton Gulch site where Paleoindians prepared the seeds of slimleaf goosefoot and prickly pear cactus in roasting pits. Ancient archaeological sites are few and far between, due in large part to degradation and erosion over such long periods of time.
Author and archaeologist Carl M. Davis began the book with a chapter on climate, illustrating the ups and downs of temperature and moisture since Ice Age times. Montana became exceptionally hot and dry from 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, and there are few or possibly no archaeological sites in the state from that time period, or at least none mentioned in the book.
The story resumes with the 5,000-year-old Spiro Site near the Wyoming border, the only known pit houses found in Montana, apparently occupied as a winter home where people lived on dried seeds and roots supplemented by fresh rabbit and deer kills.
Throughout the book the author includes a history of the science of archaeology in the state, showing how many archaeological sites were heavily damaged by amateur diggers and relic hunters, as well as by ill-trained archaeologists before rigorous scientific methods were employed to preserve the chronological sequence at dig sites.
Davis takes the reader through the long history of Pictograph and Ghost Caves near Billings, then into the rock quarry of the 3,000-year-old Schmitt Chert Mine near Three Forks, and the 1,000-year-old kill site of the First Peoples Buffalo Jump at Ulm. Six Hundred Generations thus outlines twelve thousand years of ancient history principally from seven sites, revealing just how astonishingly fragmentary the archaeological record is.
The last half of the book is dedicated to the past 500 years, from which the archaeological record is richer and better preserved. I was especially intrigued to learn that Montana had an agricultural village 400 years ago, where farmers lived in earthlodges and raised corn, beans, and squash along the Yellowstone River floodplain.
Six Hundred Generations ultimately provides a tantalizing and comprehensive indigenous history of Montana based on what is known, while leaving a thirst for the other 99.9% that remains unknown and highly speculative. It is abundantly clear from reading the book that we need to emphasize greater attention to the archaeological record to fill in the rest of the story.
Starting with the Clovis people and the burial of a child and tools at the Anzick site 13,100 years ago, the story transitions from Ice Age hunters to the 12,500-year-old Mill Iron Site where Paleoindians hunted the now extinct Bison antiquus, and from there to the 9,800-year-old Barton Gulch site where Paleoindians prepared the seeds of slimleaf goosefoot and prickly pear cactus in roasting pits. Ancient archaeological sites are few and far between, due in large part to degradation and erosion over such long periods of time.
Author and archaeologist Carl M. Davis began the book with a chapter on climate, illustrating the ups and downs of temperature and moisture since Ice Age times. Montana became exceptionally hot and dry from 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, and there are few or possibly no archaeological sites in the state from that time period, or at least none mentioned in the book.
The story resumes with the 5,000-year-old Spiro Site near the Wyoming border, the only known pit houses found in Montana, apparently occupied as a winter home where people lived on dried seeds and roots supplemented by fresh rabbit and deer kills.
Throughout the book the author includes a history of the science of archaeology in the state, showing how many archaeological sites were heavily damaged by amateur diggers and relic hunters, as well as by ill-trained archaeologists before rigorous scientific methods were employed to preserve the chronological sequence at dig sites.
Davis takes the reader through the long history of Pictograph and Ghost Caves near Billings, then into the rock quarry of the 3,000-year-old Schmitt Chert Mine near Three Forks, and the 1,000-year-old kill site of the First Peoples Buffalo Jump at Ulm. Six Hundred Generations thus outlines twelve thousand years of ancient history principally from seven sites, revealing just how astonishingly fragmentary the archaeological record is.
The last half of the book is dedicated to the past 500 years, from which the archaeological record is richer and better preserved. I was especially intrigued to learn that Montana had an agricultural village 400 years ago, where farmers lived in earthlodges and raised corn, beans, and squash along the Yellowstone River floodplain.
Six Hundred Generations ultimately provides a tantalizing and comprehensive indigenous history of Montana based on what is known, while leaving a thirst for the other 99.9% that remains unknown and highly speculative. It is abundantly clear from reading the book that we need to emphasize greater attention to the archaeological record to fill in the rest of the story.
July 3, 2022
Really interesting book. Written in an easy-to-understand manner that does not skimp on the details. You get a really nice picture of how native peoples lived from the first Montana residents up until the current period. The book is organized around about 12 different archeological sites showing aspects of native life from the past 10,000-15,ooo years.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews