Prehistoric Man

The sign's vocabulary comes from one archaeologist's dig. Earl Swanson of Idaho State excavated Veratic and Bison rockshelters, two overhangs in this Birch Creek valley, in the early 1960s, and in 1972 published a sequence for it running from about 9000 BC to 1850. Bitterroot culture is his term, and so is the line of descent the sign draws to the Shoshone (Newe), whose bands hunted bison and bighorn here into the nineteenth century. Later work has tested his dates: a 2016 study found Veratic's oldest stemmed-point layer considerably younger than he had thought.

What the plaque says

Prehistoric Man Archaeological research has traced human occupation of this valley back more than ten thousand years. The first men here found the valley forested. As the climate became drier, other mountain dwellers--known to archaeologists as people of the Bitterroot culture--settled here, perhaps about 8000 years ago. These forerunners of the modern northern Shoshoni Indians lived in family bands and hunted big game, such as bison and mountain sheep. 270 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Cote's Defile — 16 mi
• Charcoal Kilns — 16 mi
• John Day's River — 25 mi
• Gilmore — 27 mi