Geoecology of the Marias River Canyon, Montana, USA

Download or read book Geoecology of the Marias River Canyon, Montana, USA written by James G. Schmitt and published by Geological Society of America. This book was released on 2017-03-16 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Marias River canyon in north-central Montana served during late Holocene time as a locus of human activity in an ecologically and geologically dynamic landscape. This volume presents the results of interdisciplinary research, synergistically combining geologic, ecologic, and archaeologic approaches focused on examining the ways that Late Precontact peoples depended upon the animal (bison) and plant resources of a changing landscape subject to erosion and sediment transport as dominant surficial processes. Connections between erosion and deposition, plant community distribution, large mammal niches, and native peoples' place in the Marias River canyon geoecosystem, as well as the role of tributary-junction alluvial fans as repositories of archaeological materials and vertebrate faunal remains are emphasized.