Pictograph Caves, MT, 9/12

This area was once the living quarters of prehistoric hunters/gatherers; and the adjacent plains, caves, ravines, and watering holes provided for all their basic needs.  Fortunately, they felt the need to express themselves artistically; and because social media hadn’t yet been invented, they chose to draw on the walls of their caves.  When the prehistoric inhabitants were replaced by nomadic Native Americans, their empty caves slowly filled with deepening layers of dirt and silt; thus preserving the tools, implements, food scraps, and art left behind.

The artistic treasures of these caves lay hidden and preserved until Native Americans were forced onto reservations in the 1870’s/80’s.  Once white settlers discovered the caves, it was only a matter of time until the caves were excavated, and the artwork revealed.  Exposed to the ravages of weather and morons, and despite archaeologically based excavations started here in the 1930’s, only 10 of the original 130 pictographs drawn in these caves exist today.

The beautiful Montana prairie...

 

 

...and longhorn cattle who live there.