Archeological Overview of Butte District Prehistory

摘要

Ethnoscience was contracted by the BLM to conduct a Class I Overview of the prehistoric cultural resources of the Butte District, western Montana. Class I Inventories provide cultural resource managers with overviews of the resources they manage and provide frameworks for evaluating said resources. The evaluation and management of cultural resources on lands under the stewardship of the BLM is a legislatively mandated responsibility of the Bureau. Ethnoscience reviewed site file data, lithic material collections, ethnographic and ethnohistoric literature, and environmental literature, in addition to archeological literature, in preparing the inventory. Review of the current data base indicates that the District is characterized by environmental diversity. Two areas have significance for culture history: the transmontane and the plains/grasslands environments. Review of the archeological history of the District indicates that those who work mainly in the transmontane areas of the District tend to emphasize in situ development of cultural adaptations. Researchers working primarily in the plains/grasslands areas of the District tend to emphasize 'outside influences' in the developmental history of the area.