| KENDALL EDMO (Blackfeet), Master’s Student, Interdisciplinary GIS Analyst, Earth Sciences – Montana State University, Blackfeet Tribal Historic Preservation Office

This study integrates geographic information systems (GIS) and previous archaeological and anthropological research, to examine broad-scale landscape use patterns among prehistoric Blackfoot bison hunters on the Northwestern Plains and Rocky Mountain Front. Archaeological features such as drive lines provide material evidence of traditional Blackfoot practices and represent spatially complex, landscape use and management patterns across diverse ecotones,  and were strategically planned to take advantage of geographic features suitable for communal bison hunting. This study builds on previous research that looks to ethnohistoric documentation to provide context for understanding the relationship between ancestral Blackfoot, bison, and the cultural landscape while contributing new ways for utilizing geospatial tools to advance our understanding of the Blackfoot ecological knowledge system that has adapted and endured for millennia.