Economic and social change during a critical transition: The Protohistoric in the Powder River Basin and Big Horn Mountains

The Late Prehistoric-Protohistoric transition, and Protohistoric Period are characterized by social and economic changes. This thesis explores the archaeological evidence of these changes in the Powder River Basin and Big Horn Mountains of northeastern/north-central Wyoming. In order to encompass this period of transition, excavated materials and survey records of 103 sites dating from A.D. 1400 to 1800 were studied; the Protohistoric Period was redefined as circa A.D. 1500 to 1800.; Major economic changes began circa A.D. 1400 when ecological changes associated with the "Little Ice Age" improved forage conditions, changing bison ecology. This ecological change encouraged some agriculturalists living along the Missouri Trench to migrate into the Powder River Basin and Big Horn Mountains, becoming hunter gatherers. Additional migrations continued and were stimulated by the introduction of the horse and Euro American fur trade economy (circa A.D. 1700). There is considerable evidence of an intensification of bison hunting and a decline in plant processing, including some changes in site location, changes in lithic tool type ratios, and changes in hearth types.; Ceramic assemblages offer evidence that migrants into the area interacted with other populations; through this process they became a new cultural group, which historically became known as the Crow. Regional differences in archaeological assemblages suggest that historically recorded Crow subgroups have a basis in intermarriage with other groups in the region.; The shift away from agriculture, controlled by women, towards hunting, where resources were increasingly controlled by men, underlies changes in gender relations. Competition for female labor contributed to increased warfare and restrictive marriage requirements on men.; This study offers a new framework for studying the Late Prehistoric-Protohistoric transition and Protohistoric Period on the High Plains. Redefining the Protohistoric Period has allowed a better analysis of the ongoing process of economic and social change. A multivariate approach to cultural change has allowed exploration of how changing environmental conditions, and the influence of Euro American economies, were negotiated within Native value systems, reflected by Native choices.