Stone circles are among the most common and understudied archaeological features in the Rocky Mountains and High Plains. Their widespread availability coupled with increased archaeological research accompanying oil and natural gas exploration in the region has expanded the availability and size of the region’s radiocarbon database. The dates as data approach uses radiocarbon ages as variables from a larger sample. This thesis compiles radiocarbon ages associated with tipi ring sites in Wyoming and Montana and creates a summed probability distribution from these ages to serve as a proxy for prehistoric mobility. The distribution is corrected for taphonomic bias, or data loss, and compared to two paleoenvironmental proxies from northwestern Wyoming lakes to determine whether prehistoric mobility meets the expectations of the patch choice model. Running correlation windows provide statistical comparisons between datasets. Although a weak statistical relationship is apparent between mobility and the paleoenvironmental reconstructions over the 5000-year study period, no statistically significant correlations were identified at 150-or 200-year scales. Moderate strength correlations between the environmental data and mobility proxy when mobility is lagged suggest a delayed relationship between the datasets. Future research must include expanding the radiocarbon database and obtaining finer-scale paleoenvironmental reconstructions.

The prehistory of the North American Plains is an exciting and dynamic area of research within the discipline of archaeology. However, for the most part, the descriptions that archaeologists have assigned to the people who created the archaeological record in this region are either gender neutral or gendered male by default. In recent years Plains archaeologists have begun to explore how, where, and why gender representation can be found on the Plains.<p> This thesis seeks to further Plains gender research. Specifically, task differentiation by gender for the Blackfoot, a Plains contact period culture' group, is examined and detailed in this study. The data compiled are used to set up a task differentiation model for the Blackfoot. How the Blackfoot conceptually structured the interior space of a tipi is also examined. The combined data are used to establish a model for the gendered distribution of space within a tipi. Once the model for the gendered distribution of space is established, it is tested against ten completely excavated tipi rings. The results of the spatial analysis indicate that gender can be seen archaeologically, within the features used in this study. Additionally, the findings of the analysis indicate that the best artifact classes to use when examining the gendered distribution of space are ceramics, lithics, and faunal material. Finally, recommendations for further testing of the model are made in order to confirm that the model can be used to examine gendered spaces at Plains tipi rings.

The prehistory of the North American Plains is an exciting and dynamic area of research within the discipline of archaeology. However, for the most part, the descriptions that archaeologists have assigned to the people who created the archaeological record in this region are either gender neutral or gendered male by default. In recent years Plains archaeologists have begun to explore how, where, and why gender representation can be found on the Plains.<p> This thesis seeks to further Plains gender research. Specifically, task differentiation by gender for the Blackfoot, a Plains contact period culture' group, is examined and detailed in this study. The data compiled are used to set up a task differentiation model for the Blackfoot. How the Blackfoot conceptually structured the interior space of a tipi is also examined. The combined data are used to establish a model for the gendered distribution of space within a tipi. Once the model for the gendered distribution of space is established, it is tested against ten completely excavated tipi rings. The results of the spatial analysis indicate that gender can be seen archaeologically, within the features used in this study. Additionally, the findings of the analysis indicate that the best artifact classes to use when examining the gendered distribution of space are ceramics, lithics, and faunal material. Finally, recommendations for further testing of the model are made in order to confirm that the model can be used to examine gendered spaces at Plains tipi rings.