Pictographs and Petroglyphs with Montana Archaeologist Sara Scott

The Extreme History Project: The Dirt on the Past

Join us as we discuss rock art in Montana with archaeologist, Sara Scott. Our conversation revolves around the Hellgate Pictograph Site in the Helena-Lewis and Clark National Forest. This rock art site has an extensive area of finger lines, hand prints, geometric designs, dots, and animals such as snakes, turtles, and lizards. There are representations of human-like figures with distended bodies that may represent shaman figures in trance and soul flight. Many of the figures show evidence of prehistoric scraping and scratching which was deliberate and concentrated in the center of the rock art motifs. We also talk about Pictograph and Ghost Caves, located within Pictograph State Park. We discuss the archaeological context of these two caves and how we have come to know more about these important places and the people who used them. For more information, Hellgate Pictograph Site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/hlcnf/learning/history-culture/?cid=stelprdb5373556 Pictograph Cave State Park: https://fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/pictograph-cave/ Fremont Culture: https://www.crowcanyon.org/index.php/archived-news/691-meet-the-fremont-the-ancestral-pueblo-people-s-northern-neighbors