ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explains the Plains and Rocky Mountains of North America are shrouded in lore of nineteenth-century horse-mounted bison hunters, a lore that is oft repeated in books and art of the time and afterwards. Archaeologists have long lamented the fact that rock art could not be accurately dated, and the chance of associating stratified levels in sites to pictures on a nearby wall stood little chance of becoming a reality. Theoretical advances in rock art research are bringing new perspectives on social and ideological aspects of Northwestern Plains and Rocky Mountain hunter-gatherers. The prehistoric Native Americans not only made a daily living, but participated in rich social and ritual networks with their neighbors, perhaps their contacts even reaching across the entire North American continent. Lifeways were more Archaic, with a broader, often changing diet and commensurate social and settlement systems.
