http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100808/NEWS01/8080302/Blackfeet-Reservation-dig-unearthing-1-000-year-old-historyBy TRAVIS COLEMAN • Tribune Staff Writer • August 8, 2010
BROWNING — Archaeologists are teaming with Blackfeet tribal members to
uncover a vast and little-known former hunting complex and bison kill site along
the Two Medicine River used at least 1,000 years ago.
Researchers say the 9-mile-long project area, containing a preserved system for
driving bison over a cliff, bison bones and remnants of two campsites, could become
one of the largest and most significant Blackfeet heritage sites in the region.
The Two Medicine bison jump site is located in the southeastern corner of the
Blackfeet Indian Reservation on a remote plateau overlooking the river. Researchers,
led by Dr. Maria Nieves Zedeno of the University of Arizona in Tucson, say they're
eager to study how late prehistoric and later hunters — Blackfeet and others — used
the land to kill bison. They also want to expand people's knowledge about this now extinct way of life.
"We really need to preserve this site for future generations," said Zedeno, an accomplished
archaeologist from the University of Arizona's School of Anthropology and Bureau of Applied Research.