@article{a1180e69a3f74ab5a7ce7099b6369710,
title = "McKean in the Northern Rocky Mountain Front: Economic landscape and ethnogenesis",
abstract = "We characterize the McKean (Middle Archaic) settlement of the Lewis Range in the Northern Rocky Mountain Front based on new excavations at the well-preserved and multi-component Billy Big Spring site, Montana, and on a reevaluation of the regional archaeological grey literature. The study area contains numerous McKean sites despite being generally considered marginal to the McKean world. Economic strategies emphasize upland sheep hunting using probable traps or blinds and foothills bison ambush hunting near wetlands. The emergence of well-defined economic strategies during the Middle Archaic in the Northern Rocky Mountain Front coincides with the appearance of several markers of social identity in the northwestern Plains. When combined, these traits point to the emergence of ethnic/cultural identities in the Archaic period and suggest complex demographic and social processes that are often overlooked in traditional discussions of projectile point distribution and chronology.",
keywords = "Blackfoot, McKean, Middle Archaic, Northwestern Plains, Rocky Mountain Front, Sheep",
author = "{Blackfeet Thpo} and Lano{\"e}, {Fran{\c c}ois B.} and Zede{\~n}o, {M. Nieves} and Soza, {Danielle R.} and Jansson, {Anna M.}",
note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by Montana Department of Transportation and the National Science Foundation Arctic Social Sciences Program (PLR-1827975). This is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Blackfeet Tribe and the Montana Department of Transportation that provided for off-site mitigation of negative impacts to cultural resources along the Montana Highway 89 expansion corridor. Research at Billy Big Spring was made possible by short-term lease agreements with landowners Robert E. and Joan Wellman, Jr., and Jimmy and Mabel Running Fisher. Excavations were conducted through the Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office (John R. Murray, MA, Officer; Virgil Edwards; Kendall Edmo) with Blackfeet tribal members and para-archaeologists, including Dale Fenner, Sr., Brian Connelly, Edward Kennedy, Michael Bustamante, Hayley Running Crane, Jaylin Comes at Night, Jesse Desrosier, Ray St. Goddard, and Ty Running Fisher. Professional oversight crew included the authors, Ashleigh Thompson, and Evelyn Pickering (The University of Arizona), and Matthew Pailes (University of Oklahoma). This research benefited from discussions with Steve Platt (Montana Department of Transportation Archaeologist), Andrea Freeman (University of Calgary), and Vance Holliday (The University of Arizona). This paper was much improved by comments from editor Robert Hoard and from an anonymous reviewer. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019, {\textcopyright} 2019 Plains Anthropological Society.",
year = "2020",
month = jul,
day = "2",
doi = "10.1080/00320447.2019.1689347",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "65",
pages = "227--248",
journal = "Plains Anthropologist",
issn = "0032-0447",
publisher = "Plains Anthropological Society",
number = "255",
}