Not in warfare alone: Conical timber lodges in the Central Rocky
Mountains and Northwestern Plains by Carl M. Davis
Published online: 21
May 2014
Abstract
Conical timber lodges are a well known but little investigated archaeological feature of the Central Rocky
Mountains and Northwestern Plains. These perishable wood structures are commonly regarded as war
lodges or short-term shelters built by Plains Indian groups during the Protohistoric and Historic periods.
Archaeological, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic data show that this interpretation is too narrow. Conical
timber lodges served a diversity of purposes as temporary shelters, special activity sites, and domiciles.
Conical timber lodges are widely distributed across the Northwestern Plains, Central Rocky Mountains,
and Wyoming basin (Figure 1). Archaeological investigation of these fragile wood features has been
sporadic, unsystematic, and intuitive. Most are presumed to be war lodges or short-term shelters built by
native peoples during the Protohistoric and Historic periods, dating from approximately A.D. 1700 to
A.D. 1900 (Frison 1991:123; Kornfeld et al. 2010:129–138). Kornfeld, Marcel, George C. Frison, and
Mary Lou Larson (2010) Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Left Coast Press,
Walnut Creek. Although standing structures of any type from the Protohistoric and Historic periods are
rare in the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains, an up-to-date inventory of conical timber
lodge features does not exist.
Figure 1. Known distribution of conical timber lodges in eastern Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South
Dakota, and Wyoming.
In this paper, I provide an overview of conical timber lodges in east-central Idaho, Montana, western
North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. My goals are to: (1) clarify perishable wood feature
nomenclature; (2) review the known distribution of conical timber lodges; (3) offer tentative
interpretations of age, construction, use, and cultural association; and (4) encourage more systematic
conical lodge investigations before this perishable feature type entirely disappears.
Wood lodge nomenclature
The conical timber lodge is one type of perishable structure within a larger group of wood and brush
features found throughout the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains, including but not
limited to corrals, catch-pens, breastworks, fortifications, cribbed log structures, and hunting blinds. The
aboriginal use of certain types of wood structures is relatively well understood, such as timber drive lanes
and catch-pens used to hunt antelope, deer, and mountain sheep (Eakin 2005 Eakin, Daniel H. (2005)
Evidence for Shoshonean Bighorn sheep Trapping and Early Historic Occupation in the Absaroka
Mountains of Northwest Wyoming. University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center 29th
Annual Report 2005, pp. 74–86. University of Wyoming, Laramie. Frison 1991:232, Figure 4.7; Frison et
al. 1990 Frison, George C., Charles A. Reher, and Danny W. Walker (1990) Prehistoric Mountain Sheep
Hunting in the Central Rocky Mountains of North America. In Hunters of the Recent Past, edited by
Leslie B. Davis, and Brian O.K. Reeves, pp. 208–240. Unwin-Hyman, London. Keyser 1974 Keyser,
James D. (1974) The LaMarche Game Trap: An Early Historic Game Trap in Southwestern Montana.
Plains Anthropologist 20:207–215. The function of other perishable feature types, including conical
timber lodges, remains problematic.
The terms conical timber lodge and wickiup have been used interchangeably in the archaeological
literature of the Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains for decades (e.g., Conner 1966a; Davis 1975
Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis
Online], Hoffman 1961 Hoffman, J. Jacob (1961) A Preliminary Archaeological Survey of Yellowstone
National Park. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana,
Missoula; Joyes 1968 Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup Site (24GV405). Archaeology in
Montana 9(2):1–17. Scott 1988 Scott, Douglas D. (1988) Conical Timber Lodges in Colorado or
Wickiups in the Woods. In Archaeology of the Eastern Ute: A Symposium, edited by Paul R. Nickens, pp.
45–53. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists Occasional Papers No. 1. Colorado Council of
Professional Archaeologists, Denver, Colorado. White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and
Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges
within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and
Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone
National Park, Wyoming. This precedent was set by early western travellers and anthropologists who
frequently used the term wickiup (among others) to describe the wide range of pole and brush shelters
they observed (e.g., Grinnell 1927). This terminology was later applied uncritically by archaeologists to
wood structures found in the Central Rockies and Northwestern Plains. Nonetheless, the term conical
timber lodge is used exclusively in this paper to describe conical-shaped, vertical pole structures that are
free-standing or braced against a tree or rock face. Braced conical structures have also been called
‘leaning pole lodges’ (Frison 1991:127, Figure 2.77), implying that they may be a separate perishable
structure type. However, because of their conical, vertical pole configuration, they are included as conical
lodges for purposes of this overview.
Figure 2. Conical lodge plan views showing proximity of poles, bark, and rocks: Big Sheep Creek
Wickiup Cave, 24BE601, lower; Cottonwood Creek, 24MA602, upper. See also Davis and Scott (1987
Davis, Carl M., and Sara A. Scott (1987) The Pass Creek Wickiups: Northern Shoshone Hunting Lodges
in Southwest Montana. Plains Anthropologist 32:83–92.[Taylor & Francis Online], : Figure 4, page 86.
Whether free-standing or braced, conical lodges are either open with a few widely spaced, vertical poles
or tightly enclosed with numerous vertical poles, branches, boughs, and bark slabs (Figure 2). The number
of wood poles comprising a conical lodge varies, as does the configuration of interlocking poles at the
apex. Live and dead Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), limber pine
(Pinus flexilis), whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), spruce (Picea spp.), aspen (Populus tremuloides),
cottonwood (Populus ssp.), ash (Franxinu ssp.), juniper (Juniperus communis), and other tree species
were used in lodge construction. Occasionally, stones and earth were stacked around their base. Lodges
frequently contain interior fire hearths and artifacts.
In contrast, the term wickiup is reserved for the variously configured, frequently dome-shaped structures
typically found in the Great Basin and American Southwest. This diverse perishable structure type was
made of poles, branches, brush, rushes and grass thatching, mats, basketry, hide, boards, cloth, or canvass
(e.g., Irving 1961:221–222; Huscher and Huscher 1943 Huscher, Betty H., and Harold A. Huscher (1943)
The Hogan Builders of Colorado. Southwestern Lore 9(11):1–92. [Google Scholar]; Murphy and Murphy
1986:294, Figure 5). Archaeologically documented wickiups are attributed to Apache, Bannock, Navaho,
Paiute, Shoshone, Ute, and other native groups (Arkush 1987 Arkush, Brooke S. (1987) Historic Northern
Paiute Winter Houses in the Mono Basin, California. Journal of California and Great Basin
Anthropology 9:174–187; Martin et al. 2005 Martin, Curtis, Richard Ott, and Nicole Darnell (2005) The
Colorado Wickiup Project Volume I: Context, Data Assessment, and Strategic Planning. Prepared by
Dominquez Archaeological Research Group, Inc. Submitted to the Colorado Historical Society, Denver. ;
Seymour 2009 Seymour, Deni J. (2009) Nineteenth-century Apache Wickiups: Historically Documented
Models for Archaeological Signatures of the Dwellings of Mobile People. Antiquity 83:157–
164.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], ). Given their simplicity of construction and state of preservation,
the typological distinction between a wickiup and conical lodge is occasionally problematic, especially at
the margins of the Northwestern Plains (see Scott 1988 Scott, Douglas D. (1988) Conical Timber Lodges
in Colorado or Wickiups in the Woods. In Archaeology of the Eastern Ute: A Symposium, edited by Paul
R. Nickens, pp. 45–53. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists Occasional Papers No. 1.
Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver, Colorado. ). A precise nomenclature awaits
more comprehensive recording, investigation, and interregional comparisons.
Conical timber lodges differ from cribbed log structures on the Northwestern Plains. These rectangularshaped and pentagonal-shaped wood features were built of horizontally laid timbers which cribbed inward
at each tier, apparently to support a timber, hide, or brush roof (Lowie 1922:259; Mulloy 1965 Mulloy,
William (1965) The Indian Village at Thirty Mile Mesa, Montana. University of Wyoming Publications,
Laramie, Wyoming 31(1). :3; Voget 1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians.
Archaeology in Montana 18(2–3):1–18. :3). Like many conical lodges, the walls of cribbed log structures
were covered with sticks, brush, boughs, and rocks (Frison 1991:96, Figure 2.54). Used by native peoples
from the Late Prehistoric through the Historic periods, some cribbed log structures probably served as
seasonal residences while others functioned as temporary shelters, defensive breastworks, or fortresses
(Adams 2010 Adams, Richard (2010) Archaeology with Altitude: Late Prehistoric Settlement and
Subsistence in the Northern Wind River Range, Wyoming. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of
Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie. ; Davis et al. 1994 Davis, Carl M., James D. Keyser,
and Cynthia D. Craven (1994) Coyote House: Prehistoric Butte Top Occupation in the Pine Parklands.
Archaeology in Montana 35(2):5–57. :49–55; Frison 1991:123; Johnson et al. 1998:111–112; Loendorf
1969 Loendorf, Lawrence L. (1969) Pryor Mountain Archaeology. Archaeology in Montana 10(2):21–
52. :44; Moe 1974 Moe, Richard B. (1974) Two Cribbed Log Structure Sites. Archaeology in Montana
15(2):27–34. ). Although cribbed log structures are likely part of a wood shelter continuum in this region
that includes conical lodges, the chronological, functional, and cultural relationships between these two
perishable structure types are presently not well understood.
Research context
Conical timber lodge research has been sporadic across the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern
Plains due to the scarcity of these features, coupled with the traditional research focus on stratified
occupations, bison kills, and other potentially more informative archaeological site types. As a
consequence, conical timber lodges have received relatively little attention in archaeological syntheses for
this region (e.g., Frison 1991:126, Figure 2.75; Kornfeld et al. 2010 Kornfeld, Marcel, George C. Frison,
and Mary Lou Larson (2010) Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of the High Plains and Rockies. Left Coast
Press, Walnut Creek. ; MacDonald 2012 MacDonald, Douglas H. (2012) Montana before History 11,000
Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains. Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula,
Montana. :150).
Kidwell (1969 Kidwell, Arthur Spaulding (1969) The Conical Timbered Lodge on the Northwestern
Plains: Historical, Ethnological, and Archaeological Evidence. Archaeology in Montana 10(4):1–49. )
completed the first inventory of conical timber lodges on the Northwestern Plains. He relied on early
publications and field notes by Conner (1963 Conner, Stuart W. (1963) Evans Site. Trowel and Screen
4(8):2. , 1966a, 1966b), Des Rosier (1965 Des Rosier, Fred L. (1965) Kutenai War Lodges. Archaeology
in Montana 6(1):14. ), Malouf (1963 Malouf, Carling (1963) Battle Pits and War Lodges. Archaeology in
Montana 2(5):1–11. Missoula. ), Mulloy (1965 Mulloy, William (1965) The Indian Village at Thirty Mile
Mesa, Montana. University of Wyoming Publications, Laramie, Wyoming 31(1). ), and others. Based
largely on ethnohistorical accounts, Kidwell concluded that conical lodges functioned primarily as
temporary shelters for travelling war parties of Plains Indians such as the Blackfeet. Kidwell's war lodge
hypothesis relied on Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and
Use. American Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], ) and others but, as this paper illustrates, his
interpretation is too narrow to fit all conical lodge features.
Conical timber lodges in North and South Dakota were first described by Will (1909 Will, George F.
(1909) Some Observations Made in Northwestern South Dakota. American Anthropologist 11:257–
265.[Crossref], ), Wilson (1928 Wilson, Gilbert L. (1928) Hidatsa Eagle Trapping. Anthropological
Papers 30, Pt. 4. American Museum of Natural History, New York. ), Bowers (1950 Bowers, Alfred
(1950) Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. ), and
Howard (1954 Howard, J. H. (1954) Yanktonai Dakota Eagle Trapping. Southwestern Journal of
Anthropology 10:60–74.[Crossref], ), and later by Metcalf (1963 Metcalf, George (1963) Small Sites on
and about Forth Berthold Indian Reservation, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 185, River Basin Survey Papers No. 26, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. ),
Allen (1983 Allen, Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little Missouri Badlands. North Dakota
History Journal of the Northern Plains 50:4–22. ), and Kuehn (1989). These ethnographers and
archaeologists concluded that conical structures in the Dakotas were predominantly ceremonial lodges
associated with eagle trapping among the Arikara, Hidatsa, Mandan, Yanktonai Dakota, and other middle
Missouri River tribal groups during the Protohistoric and Historic periods.
Kingsbury's (1986) inventory of conical lodges in southwest Montana proposed that wood pole structures
in this mountainous region were built by the Northern (Lemhi) Shoshone. Kingsbury noted the rapidly
deteriorating condition of the conical lodges at the sites he visited, as well as the deleterious effects of
public visitation at the single conical lodge in Big Sheep Creek Cave (24BE601) (Figure 3). His
management recommendations included placement of rebar markers, recognizing that many conical
lodges would soon disappear through natural and human agencies.
Figure 3. Big Sheep Creek Wickiup Cave conical lodge, 24BE601, southwest Montana.
Wenker (1992 Wenker, Chris T. (1992) Native American Timber Structures of the Northwestern Plains.
Archaeology in Montana 33(1):25–33. ) completed a comparative analysis of conical, cribbed log, and
other timber structure types on the Northwestern Plains. He distinguished between primary (conical and
cribbed log) and secondary (lean-to and truncated) structural features and focused on the tripedal and
quadrupedal pole foundations of conical lodges as a possible indicator of cultural association. His findings
regarding pole foundations and cultural association were inconclusive beyond the Little Missouri River
region of North and South Dakota, where four pole foundations appeared to prevail archaeologically.
Conical lodges in the Yellowstone National Park (YNP) have long elicited public and professional
interest, due in part to Park Superintendent Philetus Norris's (1880) frequent mention of the many pole
and brush lodges in the park area and their assumed use by Bannock, Crow, and Shoshone bands.
Archaeological surveys in the 1950s and 1960s, both within and adjacent to the park, led to the recording
and investigation of several lodges, particularly at the well-known Lava Creek site (48YE2) (Hoffman
1961 Hoffman, J. Jacob (1961) A Preliminary Archaeological Survey of Yellowstone National Park.
Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula. ; Napton
1966 Napton, Lewis K. (1966) Canyon and Valley: Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Gallatin
Area, Montana. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana,
Missoula. ; Replogle 1956 Replogle, Wayne (1956) Yellowstone's Bannock Indian Trails. Yellowstone
Library and Museum Association, Yellowstone National Park. ; Shippee 1971 Shippee, J. Mett (1971)
Wickiups of Yellowstone Park. Plains Anthropologist 16:74–75. ; Taylor et al. 1964). It is likely that
many structures noted by Norris and early park visitors are now deteriorated beyond recognition or were
consumed by fire, such as the 1988 wildfire which burned 36 percent of the YNP (National Park Service
2008 National Park Service (2008) The Yellowstone Fires of 1988. U.S. Department of Interior, National
Park Service, Yellowstone National Park.
http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/firesupplement.pdf, accessed June 2011. ).
Recently, the National Park Service (NPS) funded a conical lodge study within the Grand Teton and
Yellowstone National Parks and the Bridger-Teton and Shoshone National Forests in northwest Wyoming
(White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the Greater
Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton
National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service,
Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. ). The NPS study was an
ethnographic overview and inventory of known conical lodges in northwest Wyoming and, less
comprehensively, in Montana and the Dakotas. As a part of this study, representatives from 11 tribes
offered their own interpretations of conical lodge function, including that pole lodges were primarily used
as temporary shelters among a variety of native groups who once occupied or used the park area and its
surrounds (White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand
Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service,
Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. :59–62).
My overview was precipitated by a U.S. Forest Service Northern Region concern regarding the
vulnerability of existing conical timber lodges and other wood structures to wildfire. Conical lodge data
presented herein were derived from State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) databases, cultural site
records, cultural resource management (CRM) reports, publications, and correspondence with local
informants and state, federal, and university archaeologists. SHPO databases variously identified conical
timber lodges as prehistoric wood structures, pole lodges, war lodges, wickiups, pole lean-tos, timber
lodges, brush and wood shelters, and wood habitation sites. However, in this paper I review only those
that correspond to the definition provided above.
In addition to this diverse nomenclature, conical timber lodge reporting is highly uneven. Basic
description such as lodge location, environmental setting, interior size, and wood pole genera/species is
frequently vague or entirely missing in many cultural site records and reports. Because of this situation,
my overview necessarily excludes poorly documented or nebulous conical lodge references, wood
features that do not seem to qualify as conical lodges, and ambiguous structures that are likely to be of
modern origin (White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of
the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest,
Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park
Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. : Table 4.1). Some
questionable sites may legitimately qualify as aboriginal conical timber lodges upon further field
examination and research. Others may not. Over the past several decades, I visited conical lodges in
southwest Montana but pole lodge structures in the other states are described using existing site
information. A total of 92 conical lodges at 64 archaeological sites are the basis of this overview.
Table 1 of 2 (actual table not available)
–, no data; all measurements are in meters (m) at maximum dimension. Wood Type: AS, aspen; CW,
cottonwood; C, cedar; LP, Lodgepole pine; DF, Douglas fir; JP, juniper; SP, spruce; and WbP, Whitebark
Pine. Water: Ck, creek, Pd, pond, Md, meadow-marsh; and Sp, spring, Status: B, burned; C, collapsed;
PC, partly collapsed; S, standing. Foundation indicates the number of poles.
Table 1. Conical timber lodges in Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota
Conical lodge distribution
Conical timber lodges are scattered throughout the Central Rocky Mountain and Northwestern Plains
region (Figure 1). Several patterns are apparent in the extant lodge distribution data. Over half of the
known conical lodges are concentrated in the mountain ranges of east-central Idaho, southwest Montana,
and northwest Wyoming. One cluster of lodges in southwest Montana occupies an area that includes parts
of the Beaverhead, Blacktail, Centennial, Ruby, and Tendoy mountains (Table 1). Of these, Big Sheep
Creek Wickiup Cave (24BE601) is unique because of its location inside a limestone rockshelter (Davis
1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis
Online], ) (Figures 2 and 3). With the exception of Wickiup Cave, no southwest Montana lodges have
been thoroughly investigated. Artifacts and an interior hearth were observed at the Garden Creek No. 2
lodge (24MA601) in the Ruby Range but none were found at the nearby Garden Creek No. 1 (24MA81)
and Cottonwood lodges (24MA602), the latter of which is shown in MacDonald (2012 MacDonald,
Douglas H. (2012) Montana before History 11,000 Years of Hunter-Gatherers in the Rockies and Plains.
Mountain Press Publishing Company, Missoula, Montana. :150) but is mislocated in the Pryor
Mountains. The Trail Spring lodge (24JF1019) in the Deer Lodge Range still stands and may be
associated with nearby stone hunting blinds and other archaeological remains, which were attributed to
the Mountain (Tukudika, Sheep Eater) Shoshone (Pallister 1992 Pallister, Philip D. (1992) The Bull
Mountain Wickiup and Dry-Laid Masonry Structures: A Tukudika Complex? Archaeology in Montana
33(2):33–59. ). Artifacts were not in evidence at the Pass Creek site when it was recorded and mapped
but no subsurface testing occurred there (Davis and Scott 1987 Davis, Carl M., and Sara A. Scott (1987)
The Pass Creek Wickiups: Northern Shoshone Hunting Lodges in Southwest Montana. Plains
Anthropologist 32:83–92.[Taylor & Francis Online], ).
Two conical lodges (10CR1161, 10LH1222) are located in the Boulder and Beaverhead Mountains of
east-central Idaho (Figure 4; Table 1). Both lodges are tightly enclosed with numerous vertical poles.
Neither has been excavated. The dearth of reported conical lodges in the mountains of east-central Idaho
and on the west slope of the Bitterroot Range is intriguing given the extensive occupation and use of the
area by Northern Shoshone, Nez Perce, and other Indian tribes in the nineteenth century (Steward 1938
Steward, Julian H. (1938) Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin No. 120. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. :186–188; Walker 1982 Walker,
Deward E. Jr. (1982) Indians of Idaho. University of Idaho Press, Moscow. :28–40). A number of Indian
lodges were reported here by soldiers during the short-lived Sheep Eater Campaign of 1879 (Carrey et al.
1968 Carrey, John, Col. W. C. Brown, George M. Shearer, and Aaron F. Parker (1968) The Sheep Eater
Campaign (Chamberlin Basin Country): Original Accounts of the Sheepeater Indian Campaign and
White People Who Later Occupied the Desolate Area. Campaign, Idaho Free Country Press, Grangeville,
Idaho. ), but archaeologists have yet to locate any lodges or camps recorded in their military journals
(Roberts 1983). Poor preservation and lack of archaeological survey in the rugged mountains of central
Idaho may partly account for this discrepancy.
Two other conical lodges in southwest Montana are located further east in the Gallatin Range near YNP,
including the Wickiup Creek (24YE301) and Snowflake Pole (24GA325) sites (Conner 1966b; Napton
1966 Napton, Lewis K. (1966) Canyon and Valley: Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Gallatin
Area, Montana. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana,
Missoula. ; Taylor et al. 1964) (Table 1). At Wickiup Creek, three now collapsed lodges were built of
aspen poles cut with a sharp implement, possibly a metal axe. Two of the three structures were excavated
in 1958 by Napton (1966 Napton, Lewis K. (1966) Canyon and Valley: Preliminary Archaeological
Survey of the Gallatin Area, Montana. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology,
University of Montana, Missoula. ). A rimless, surface fire hearth and a semi-circle of 12 cobblestones
were found inside the lodge. No radiocarbon dates are available for this hearth feature.
In northwest and north-central Wyoming, conical timber lodges are concentrated in the Absaroka,
Bighorn, Gros Ventre, Teton, and Wind River ranges (Table 2). Of these sites, the Lava Creek Wickiup
(48YE2) is the most informative because of the level of work performed (Hoffman 1961 Hoffman, J.
Jacob (1961) A Preliminary Archaeological Survey of Yellowstone National Park. Unpublished Master's
thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula. ; Grinnell 1927; Napton 1966
Napton, Lewis K. (1966) Canyon and Valley: Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Gallatin Area,
Montana. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula. ;
Replogle 1956 Replogle, Wayne (1956) Yellowstone's Bannock Indian Trails. Yellowstone Library and
Museum Association, Yellowstone National Park. ; Shippee 1971 Shippee, J. Mett (1971) Wickiups of
Yellowstone Park. Plains Anthropologist 16:74–75. ; Taylor et al. 1964). One excavated lodge contained
a central hearth, obsidian flakes, and butchered elk bone. The lodges were attributed to the Bannock and
Shoshone by Hoffman (1961 Hoffman, J. Jacob (1961) A Preliminary Archaeological Survey of
Yellowstone National Park. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of
Montana, Missoula. ). In the mid-1980s, tree ring studies were conducted at the Soapy Dale lodge
(48HO107), which was subsequently dismantled and reconstructed at the Washakie Museum in Worland,
Wyoming. Such a conservation measure was fortuitous given that a conical lodge (48BH719) located in a
rockshelter in the Bighorn Mountains (similar to Big Sheep Creek Wickiup Cave in Montana) was
vandalized and burned before it could be fully investigated (Larson et al. 1975 Larson, T., P. Treet, and D.
McGuire (1975) Wyoming Archaeological Site Form, Site Number 48BH719, Bureau of Land
Management Little Mountain Survey. On file with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office,
Laramie. ). In any event, the Alkali Creek (48FR5901) (Figure 5), Boulder Creek-Kendall (48SU7322)
(Frison 1991:125, Figure 2.75), and other conical lodge sites in northwest Wyoming have received limited
research.
Figure 4. Red Lake conical lodge, 10CR1161, eastern Idaho.
Figure 5. Alkali Creek conical lodge, 48FR5925, northwest Wyoming.
Table 2 of 2 (actual table not available)
–, no data; all measurements are in meters (m) at maximum dimension. Wood type: AS, aspen; CW,
cottonwood; C, cedar; LP, Lodgepole pine; DF, Douglas fir; JP, juniper; SP, spruce; and WbP, Whitebark
pine. Water: Ck, creek, Pd, pond, Md, meadow-marsh; and Sp, spring, Status: B, burned; C, collapsed;
PC, partly collapsed; S, standing. Foundation indicates the number of poles.
Nine of the lodges in northwest Wyoming are comprised of pine or aspen poles braced against a standing
or dead tree (trees randomly growing through abandoned lodges are unlikely to result in such a consistent
pattern of leaning poles at various sites) (Table 2). For example, at the Crystal Creek site (48TE1440) on
the Bridger-Teton National Forest, two conical lodges were built around a white-bark pine tree at an
elevation of approximately 2,800 m above sea level. Other poles lay on the ground surrounding the tree
suggesting that the exterior pole covering was dismantled or has entirely deteriorated. Several sites
contain lithic scatters whose association with the lodges is unclear.
Conical lodge information from northwest Wyoming is also derived from an archaeological site where a
wood structure is no longer present. Boulder Ridge (48PA2642) is a high elevation ridge system on
National Forest system lands in the Absaroka Range. This archaeologically rich area contained a
collapsed conical lodge, drive lanes, cairns, and several mountain sheep traps (Finley and Finley 2004).
The area burned in a 2003 wildfire. Post-fire surveys sponsored by the U.S. Forest Service and completed
by the Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist and university students revealed an abundance of
Protohistoric period artifacts, most likely representing Shoshonean occupation in the vicinity of the now
incinerated conical pole lodge and elsewhere (Eakin 2005 Eakin, Daniel H. (2005) Evidence for
Shoshonean Bighorn sheep Trapping and Early Historic Occupation in the Absaroka Mountains of
Northwest Wyoming. University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center 29th Annual Report
2005, pp. 74–86. University of Wyoming, Laramie. ; Finley and Finley 2004; Scheiber and Finley 2010
Scheiber, Laura L., and Judson Byrd Finley (2010) Mountain Shoshone Technological Transitions Across
the Great Divide. In Across the Great Divide: Culture Contact and Culture Change in North America at
AD 1500, edited by L. L. Scheiber, and M. Mitchell, pp. 128–148. University of Arizona Press,
Tucson. :141–147).
Another cluster of 13 lodges are scattered throughout the Castle, Little Belt, Little Snowy, and Pryor
mountains of central Montana (Figure 1; Table 1). They are typically situated at lower elevations in these
island mountain ranges; for example, the Whetstone Ridge lodges (24ME409) in the Castle Mountains are
situated at about 1,500 m above sea level (Arthur 1967). Lodges in this cluster are constructed of
numerous timber poles but generally lack smaller branches and bark slabs in the gaps between poles.
Excavations at the Evans (24GV405) and Janich (24ML411) sites yielded gun flints, lead balls, glass
beads, a brass tack, and the barrel of a Northwest gun (Conner 1963 Conner, Stuart W. (1963) Evans Site.
Trowel and Screen 4(8):2. ; Johnson et al. 1988 Johnson, Ann M., Kenneth J. Feyhl, Stuart Conner, and
Michael Bryant (1988) The Cremation of two Early Historic Structures in the Bull Mountains.
Archaeology in Mountain 29(2):97–115. ; Joyes 1968 Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup Site
(24GV405). Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. ). In these settings, access to upland resources may have
been less important than water, security, and defensibility, implying that their use was related to hunting
and warfare, as discussed further below.
A small number of conical lodges are reported from the plains and basins of south and east Wyoming
(Table 2). Sites such as Joe Bozovich 2 (48SW5981) comprise relatively small, compact lodges made of
juniper, aspen, or fir poles. In fact, several lodges (e.g., 48SW9441, Powder Mountain) share
characteristics of both a conical lodge (vertical poles, conical shape) and a wickiup (smaller size, low
apex, fewer poles), attesting to the challenge of classifying wood structure types in some areas. Keyser
and Poetschat (2008 Keyser, James D., and George R. Poetschat (2008) Ute Horse Raiders on the Powder
Rim: Rock Art at Powder Wash, Wyoming. Oregon Archaeological Society Publication No. 19, Oregon
Archaeological Society, Portland, Oregon. ) suggested that the Powder Mountain structures functioned as
war lodges and are possibly associated with nearby rock art sites showing drawings of horses and combat
scenes. Whatever the case, Wyoming has a long history of aboriginal shelter construction reflecting
various seasonal uses of sage-covered foothills and basins during the Protohistoric and Historic periods by
Shoshone, Ute, and other native groups (Frison 1971 Frison, George C. (1971) Shoshonean Antelope
Procurement in the Upper Green River Basin, Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist 15:258–284. :260–261,
Figure 2).
A final group of conical lodges is located along the Little Missouri River of North Dakota (Allen 1983
Allen, Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of
the Northern Plains 50:4–22. ; Kuehn 1989; Metcalf 1963 Metcalf, George (1963) Small Sites on and
about Forth Berthold Indian Reservation, Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 185, River Basin Survey Papers No. 26, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. )
(Figure 6). All lodges are located within timber and brush thickets. They are of generally similar
construction. Three lodges exhibit a four-pole foundation while two others are built on a three pole
foundation. Six lodges are found on benches and ridge tops in the rugged badlands (32BI128, 32BI401,
32SL283, 32MZ435, 32MZ608). Site 32SL283 is a single lodge partially ringed with sandstone slabs.
Figure 6. Winter Wickiup conical lodge, 32MZ435, western North Dakota.
Three conical lodges are located on terraces and the floodplain of the Little Missouri River (32MZ447,
32BI847, 32DU25). Site 24B1847 was described as a pole structure covered with dirt and bark prior to a
1947 flood. Today, however, only a 3.6 m depression remains at this site. Lodge 32DU25 was built with a
four-pole foundation against which long poles, shorter branches, and overlapping bark slabs were stacked
(Metcalf 1963 Metcalf, George (1963) Small Sites on and about Forth Berthold Indian Reservation,
Garrison Reservoir, North Dakota. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 185, River Basin Survey
Papers No. 26, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. ). The location of floodplain lodges such as
32DU25 suggests that other conical lodges may have been lost with the construction and flooding of the
Garrison Reservoir/Lake Sakakawea. Because of their relatively good condition, Allen (1983 Allen,
Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of the
Northern Plains 50:4–22. :19) suggested that floodplain lodges reflected a later period of eagle trapping.
Eagle trapping ended in this area in the early 1880s (Bowers 1950 Bowers, Alfred (1950) Mandan Social
and Ceremonial Organization. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. :207–208).
Two conical timber lodges are located in the Slim Buttes area of northwest South Dakota (Conner and
Halverson 1969 Conner, Stuart W., and Samuel D. Halverson (1969) Slim Buttes Lodge. Archaeology in
Montana 10(1):1–13. ). Site 39HN201 was built with some 60 aspen poles over which grass and brush
were placed. Poles were stacked in two layers. The lodge was encircled with cobbles. Intact hearths were
present both inside and outside of the lodge. When the structure was first observed by a local rancher in
1886, it was estimated to be only five or six years old. A second Slim Buttes lodge, first reported by
George Will (1909 Will, George F. (1909) Some Observations Made in Northwestern South Dakota.
American Anthropologist 11:257–265.[Crossref], ), apparently included at least two structures which
were later removed by local residents prior to 1920. He also observed the ashes of hearth fire and a
painted buffalo skull.
In addition to this broad geographic pattern, conical lodges in east-central Idaho, southwest Montana, and
northwest Wyoming tend to be located on mountain benches, terraces, ridges, and gentle slopes between
about 2,000 m and 3,100 m above sea level. In these same settings, pole lodges are usually found near
mountain springs, streams, or lakes. Otherwise, my attempts to correlate site attributes were problematic
because of incomplete or inconsistently reported conical lodge data (see White and White 2012 White,
David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical
Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National
Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources,
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. :84).
Presently, most of the surviving conical lodges are found in relatively secluded or inaccessible locations.
Rarely do they contain more than a few lodge features. Of the 64 known conical lodge sites, 48 (75
percent) contain a single lodge and 10 (16 percent) contain double lodges. Only a few sites contain more
structures, including four lodges at Lava Creek (48YE2) in the Gallatin Range, and six (and possibly
more) lodges at Replogle (48YE485) in the Absaroka Mountains (Replogle 1956 Replogle, Wayne (1956)
Yellowstone's Bannock Indian Trails. Yellowstone Library and Museum Association, Yellowstone
National Park. ; White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of
the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest,
Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park
Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. :42). This pattern of
single or only a few lodges, coupled with their isolation, contrasts with many Northwestern Plains tipi
ring sites, which typically are in more accessible settings and contain multiple, stone circle features
situated in close proximity to each other (e.g., Davis 1983 Davis, Leslie B. (1983) Stone Circles in the
Montana Rockies: Relicit Households and Transitory Communities. In Microcosm to Macrocosm:
Advances in Tipi Ring Investigation and Interpretation, edited by Leslie B. Davis, pp. 235–278. Plains
Anthropologist Memoir 19. ). This divergence may reflect, in part, the differing environmental and
cultural contexts in which conical timber lodges and pole and hide tipis were built and used.
Lastly, the small number of known conical lodges pales in comparison to the numerous ethnohistorical
and ethnographic accounts of their widespread use across the Northwestern Plains during the Protohistoric
and Historic periods (e.g., Kidwell 1969 Kidwell, Arthur Spaulding (1969) The Conical Timbered Lodge
on the Northwestern Plains: Historical, Ethnological, and Archaeological Evidence. Archaeology in
Montana 10(4):1–49. :16–20; Moulton 1987 Moulton, Gary E. (editor) (1987) The Journals of the Lewis
& Clark Expedition, vol. 4, April 7–July 27, 1805. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. :88, 202, 239;
Voget 1977). The Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains contain abundant topographic
references to ‘Teepee, Tipi, Wickiup, and Wigwam’ springs, creeks, draws, and canyons suggesting that
abandoned wood structures were once located (and may still be found) in these vicinities. Anecdotal
reports of wood lodges that no longer exist are relatively common and reinforce the notion of their
widespread occurrence. For example, a conical pole structure similar to those at Pass Creek (24BE70)
once existed near Elkhorn Hot Springs in the Pioneer Mountains near Dillon, Montana (Edith Palmer,
personal communication 1996). This disjunction is likely due to inadequate archaeological sampling.
Further, natural deterioration, wildfire, extensive livestock grazing, and vandalism since the turn of the
twentieth century have undoubtedly contributed to the degradation and demise of many conical timber
lodges, especially those located in easily accessible and well-used valley bottom and foothill settings.
Conical lodge construction
During their 1805 journey through the upper Missouri River basin, the Lewis and Clark expedition
encountered numerous abandoned Indian timber lodges and brush shelters. On May 26, travelling
westward between the Musselshell and Judith rivers, Meriwether Lewis commented ‘we have continued
every day to pass more or less old stick lodges of the Indians in the timbered points, there are two even in
the this little bottom where we lye’ (Moulton 1987 Moulton, Gary E. (editor) (1987) The Journals of the
Lewis & Clark Expedition, vol. 4, April 7–July 27, 1805. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. :202).
The expedition also ‘encamped in an old Indian stick lodge which afforded us a dry and comfortable
shelter’ (Moulton 1987 Moulton, Gary E. (editor) (1987) The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition,
vol. 4, April 7–July 27, 1805. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. :263). Among early western
travellers, the Lewis and Clark expedition provided one of the most complete ethnohistorical descriptions
of a conical pole lodge, dated 4 May 1805:
…the usual construction of the lodges we have lately passed is as follows. three or more strong sticks the
thickness of a man's leg or arm and about twelve feet long are attached together at one end by a with of
small willows, these are then set on one end and spread at the base, (to) forming a circle of ten twelve or
14 feet in diameter; sticks of driftwood and fallen timber of convenient size are now placed with one end
on the ground and the other resting against those which are secured together at top by the with and which
support and give the form to the whole, thus sticks are laid on until they make it as thick as they design,
usually about three ranges, each piece breaking or filling up the interstice of the two beneath it, the whole
forming a conic figure about 10 feet high with a small apperture in one side which answers as the door.
leaves bark and straw are sometimes thrown over the work to make it more complete, but at best it affords
a very imperfect shelter particularly without straw which is the state in which we have most usually found
them (Moulton 1987 Moulton, Gary E. (editor) (1987) The Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, vol.
4, April 7–July 27, 1805. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. :108–109).
Exploring the Missouri River region in the early 1830s, Maximilian Prince of Weid remarked ‘round the
trunk of an old tree the Indians had built a conical hut with pieces of wood; but for the whole voyage from
Fort Union to Fort McKenzie, such huts were the only signs of human beings, and we did not see a single
Indian’ (Thwaites 1906 Thwaites, Reuben Gold (editor)(1906) Early Western Travels 1784–1846, Part II
of Maximilian, Prince of Weid's Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832–1834, volume XXIII, The
Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleveland, Ohio. :55). Later western travelers (e.g. Cook et al. 1965:17; Kelly
1926 Kelly, Luther S. (1926) Yellowstone Kelly. Yale University Press, New Haven. :112, 130–134; Ross
1956:166) similarly described, though less explicitly, the wood huts, log shelters, and forts encountered
on their travels. These ethnohistorical descriptions and the information later garnered from tribal
informants by ethnographers provided a more complete picture of aboriginal shelter in the Central
Rockies and Northwestern Plains. For example, Steward (1943:305–306) reported that among the Lemhi
(Northern) Shoshone of east Idaho and southwest Montana, ‘conical houses’ were: built as winter
dwellings; interlocked and/or tied at the intersection (foundation); covered with grass, tule, juniper bark,
and brush placed in layers; entered by a doorway facing east; and had an interior fire hearth.
Ewers’ (1944:183–184) description of the Blackfeet war lodge has become the stereotypic version of the
Northwestern Plains conical timber lodge. Blackfeet war lodges were built of three interlocking
foundation poles of about 3.6 m long. Willow poles, cottonwood bark, and brush were leaned, but not
tied, against the outer poles to form a relatively weather-tight structure. Interior height was about 2.1 m
and the lodge was just roomy enough to house a small war party sleeping at close quarters. Blackfeet
lodges had low, angled, A-shaped, timber-covered entryways.
Further east, in the Little Missouri River region of North Dakota, Bowers (1950 Bowers, Alfred (1950)
Mandan Social and Ceremonial Organization. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. ) and Wilson (1928
Wilson, Gilbert L. (1928) Hidatsa Eagle Trapping. Anthropological Papers 30, Pt. 4. American Museum
of Natural History, New York. ) described several Hidatsa and Mandan conical lodge variants. One lodge
variant was built with a four-pole foundation, with poles, branches, and bark leaned against this
superstructure. Brush, bark, and earth were then piled against the poles to a height of about 1 m for
warmth and protection against enemy attack. A less substantially built grass-covered lodge was used
when trapping in new territory (Bowers 1950 Bowers, Alfred (1950) Mandan Social and Ceremonial
Organization. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. :232–233; Wilson 1928 Wilson, Gilbert L. (1928)
Hidatsa Eagle Trapping. Anthropological Papers 30, Pt. 4. American Museum of Natural History, New
York. :145, 411–414). Wilson (1928 Wilson, Gilbert L. (1928) Hidatsa Eagle Trapping. Anthropological
Papers 30, Pt. 4. American Museum of Natural History, New York. :161) noted the close relationship
between winter hunting and eagle trapping among the Hidatsa.
Such ethnohistorical and ethnographic descriptions provide analogues for archaeological conical timber
lodges (Wenker 1992 Wenker, Chris T. (1992) Native American Timber Structures of the Northwestern
Plains. Archaeology in Montana 33(1):25–33. ; White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and
Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges
within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and
Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone
National Park, Wyoming. :38–56). While these descriptions are in general agreement with the
archaeological record, many of the construction details vary. For example, outside of the Little Missouri
River region, there is no clear preference for a three or four pole foundation in the extant conical lodge
sample (Table 1). Of the 14 sites where the pole foundation was documented, eight exhibited a three-pole
foundation while three have a four-pole foundation. However, for the majority of lodges the foundation
type is undetermined probably due to the preservation condition and the fact that verification would
require taking apart the structures in some cases. None of the identified lodges show evidence of hide,
cordage, or rope used to tie the lodge foundation together. Nor do any have the covered A-shaped
doorway as indicated by Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction
and Use. American Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], :184) for Blackfeet war lodges, including
conical lodges currently known from central Montana in traditional Blackfeet territory. These various
inconsistencies probably reflect the availability of on-site building material, terrain, lodge purpose, and
use, as well as preservation circumstances and inconsistent documentation.
Among the 46 conical lodges whose diameters were recorded, lodges range from less than a meter
(32MZ435) to 9.1 m (24YE301), with a mean, mode, and range of 3.6, 3.4, and 8.3 m, respectively.
Although function undoubtedly dictated size, the interior dimension of many conical lodge interiors fall
within the same 5 to 10 m diameter range of a small-size tipi ring (Davis 1983 Davis, Leslie B. (1983)
Stone Circles in the Montana Rockies: Relicit Households and Transitory Communities. In Microcosm to
Macrocosm: Advances in Tipi Ring Investigation and Interpretation, edited by Leslie B. Davis, pp. 235–
278. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 19. :235–278, Table 18.5). Ethnographies indicate that lodge floors
were often hollowed-out and covered with grass, brush, bark, mats, or hides (e.g., Steward 1943:272–
273). A depression where lodge 24BI1847 (Tipi Bottom) once stood near the Little Missouri River is
suggestive of deliberate excavation (Allen 1983 Allen, Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little
Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of the Northern Plains 50:4–22. :16). A partial bark
floor was identified at the Evans site (24GV405) in central Montana (Joyes 1968 Joyes, Dennis (1968)
The Evans Wickiup Site (24GV405). Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. :9–10, Figure 5). At Big Sheep
Creek Wickiup Cave in southwest Montana, rye grass (Elymus spp.) was used for bedding, and possibly
as floor covering (Davis 1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–
305.[Taylor & Francis Online], :299). Grass matting was also noted at site 48BH719, the now vanished
lodge located in a rockshelter in the Bighorn Mountains (Larson et al. 1975 Larson, T., P. Treet, and D.
McGuire (1975) Wyoming Archaeological Site Form, Site Number 48BH719, Bureau of Land
Management Little Mountain Survey. On file with the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office,
Laramie. ).
Interior height measurements are typically compromised by the inward collapse of the pole lodge.
However, 3.6 and 3.45 m are the mean and median size, respectively, for those 46 lodges where diameter
measurements were taken or approximated. To the modern visitor, surviving lodges appear small and
cramped for space, partly due to the steep pitch of the pole walls and their collapsed state. Nonetheless,
Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and Use. American
Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], ) described small war parties sleeping inside lodges for
protection. In the current sample, lodge entrances face all directions. However, of the 38 lodges where
doorway orientation was documented or estimated, approximately 70 percent of the lodge doorways are
oriented towards the east and south (Tables 1 and 2).
Kidwell's (1969:23) observation that conical lodges typically contained central or external fire hearths is
not fully substantiated by the current lodge sample. Only 26 (40 percent) of the known sites contain
evidence of interior or exterior hearths. However, where any amount of investigation has occurred,
hearths and artifacts are invariably found in small quantities, such as the Evans (24GV405) (Joyes 1968
Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup Site (24GV405). Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. ) and
Janich (24ML411) (Johnson et al. 1988 Johnson, Ann M., Kenneth J. Feyhl, Stuart Conner, and Michael
Bryant (1988) The Cremation of two Early Historic Structures in the Bull Mountains. Archaeology in
Mountain 29(2):97–115. ) sites, or in relative abundance such as at Big Sheep Creek Wickiup Cave
(24BE601) (Davis 1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor
& Francis Online], ).
At present, rather than focusing on a single trait such as the pole foundation or entryway, a combination of
attributes may be the most useful way to characterize conical timber lodge construction and typology,
including the number of lodges per site, pole procurement (dead versus live), extent of external covering,
interior area, and presence of interior hearths and artifacts. Among the known conical lodges, the Lone
Pine Peak (10CR1161), Pierce-Horton (10LH1222), Pass Creek (24BE70), Wickiup Cave (24BE601),
Cottonwood Creek (24MA602), and Sheep Point 1 (48PA868) lodges are representative of apparently
well-insulated structures built of vertical poles, bark, brush, rock, and earth. In contrast, lodges such as
48FR501 and 24GA325 were less substantially built and perhaps more lightly used, acknowledging that
these sites are not thoroughly investigated. As discussed further below, the former may indicate seasonal
residences or domiciles while the latter were built as war lodges, hunting camps, or for other special
purposes.
Antiquity of conical lodges
The chronological age of most conical timber lodges is currently unknown. Dating has been hampered by
the fragility of the wood structures, apparent lack of artifacts and datable features, and minimal
investigation. No radiocarbon dates are available among the current conical lodge sample.
Dendrochronological dating has been successful at several lodge sites. At the Evans site (24GA405) in
central Montana, the growth pattern of cored poles led the investigators to conclude that the lodge was
built ‘not far from 1865’ (Joyes 1968 Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup Site (24GV405).
Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. :10). This historic age was supported by glass beads and the barrel of
a Northwest Gun excavated from within the lodge interior. The investigators concluded that the latter was
mounted and proofed in the late 1850s (Grey 1968 Grey, Don (1968) The Northwest Gun from the Evans
Site. Archaeology in Montana 9(2):11–17. :15). In addition, metal axe marks were observed on the butt
end of the poles.
The Soapy Dale Peak Lodge (48HO107) in the Absaroka Range in Wyoming was cored in the mid 1980s
(Reher et al. 1985). Increment cores and slabs were removed from the standing lodge and surrounding
mixed conifer-deciduous forest. The aspen and lodgepole pine samples from the lodge poles were long
enough for cross-dating. However, they required a slight (seven to eight year) upward adjustment to
account for the lag effect in aspen growth (due to fluctuating water tables in the aspen grove area) and
match corresponding peaks in core sequences from the surrounding forest and other increment bore
stations in the Absaroka Range (Reher et al. 1985:21–23). Four of the five pole samples clustered from
A.D. 1852 to A.D. 1862, with the single outlier dating to 1848. The researchers concluded that the
structure was built sometime immediately after A.D. 1865. Napton (1966 Napton, Lewis K. (1966)
Canyon and Valley: Preliminary Archaeological Survey of the Gallatin Area, Montana. Unpublished
Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Montana, Missoula. :137–143) cored several
poles and nearby living trees at the Snowflake Pole lodge (24GA325) in southwest Montana, but the dates
have not been published. Despite the use of old deadfall in lodge construction, the potential for
complacent or compressed growth rings in some environments (Speer 2010 Speer, James H. (2010)
Fundamentals of Tree-Ring Research. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. :22–23), and other
dating challenges, dendrochronology remains an important research tool in conical lodge studies.
Cultural materials found inside and outside of all investigated conical lodges date exclusively to the
Protohistoric and Historic periods in the Northwestern Plains and intermountain chronologies (Frison
1991). The Wickiup Cave (24BE601) site in Montana and the Boulder Ridge site (48PA2642) in
Wyoming yielded a variety of stone, glass, metal, pottery, and perishable items (Davis 1975 Davis, Carl
M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis Online], ; Scheiber and
Finley 2010 Scheiber, Laura L., and Judson Byrd Finley (2010) Mountain Shoshone Technological
Transitions Across the Great Divide. In Across the Great Divide: Culture Contact and Culture Change in
North America at AD 1500, edited by L. L. Scheiber, and M. Mitchell, pp. 128–148. University of
Arizona Press, Tucson. ). The Evans Wickiup site (24GV405) yielded metal and glass items (Joyes 1968
Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup Site (24GV405). Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. ). Postfire excavations at the Janich lodge (24ML411) produced several gun flints, lead balls, glass beads, and
brass tacks, indicating a mid-nineteenth century date for this site (Johnson et al. 1988 Johnson, Ann M.,
Kenneth J. Feyhl, Stuart Conner, and Michael Bryant (1988) The Cremation of two Early Historic
Structures in the Bull Mountains. Archaeology in Mountain 29(2):97–115. ). A single side-notched
arrowpoint recovered near a lodge at 48SH575 in the Bighorn Mountains also possibly indicates a
Protohistoric to Historic period age.
The age of conical lodges may also be generally inferred from their preservation condition. In the Central
Rocky Mountains, elevation, temperature, moisture, worms, insects, bacteria, and fungus contribute to the
decomposition of dead woody material and duff (Schoennagel et al. 2004 Schoennagel, Tania, Thomas T.
Verblen, and William H. Romme (2004) The Interaction of Fire, Fuels, and Climate across Rocky
Mountain Forests. BioScience 54(7):661–676.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], ). Thus, the decomposition
rates of woody debris in forested environments serve as a proxy measure of the natural decay rate of
conical lodge poles, recognizing that local conditions influence preservation. For example, the
decomposition rate of the Douglas fir (P. menziesii) boles, a common tree species used in conical lodge
construction, is approximately 300 years (Means et al. 1985 Means, Joseph E., Kermit Cromack, Jr., and
Paul C. MacMillan (1985) Comparison of Decomposition Models Using Wood Density of Douglas-fir
Logs. Canadian Journal of Forestry Research 15:1092–1098.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], ). Thus,
through the aforementioned biological processes, lodges made of live or deadfall Douglas fir would
disintegrate over three centuries or less in forested environments. The bases of their vertical poles slowly
rotted and splintered, resulting in both the downward and (usually) inward collapse of the structure and,
eventually, an inconspicuous pile of poles. The Pass Creek conical lodges (24BE70) in Montana and the
Painter Gulch (48PA305) lodges in Wyoming are examples of this disintegration process. Site 24BE1211
in the Tendoy Mountains, first recorded in 1985, is composed of three separate ‘short and squat’ lodges
composed of locally available Douglas fir (Kingsbury 1986 Kingsbury, Lawrence A. (1986) Wickiup
Protection Project. Unpublished manuscript, Bureau of Land Management, Butte District, Montana. :12–
13). These lodges were barely recognizable to me in the summer of 2011, indicating the rate of
deterioration over the past several decades.
Wildfire frequency provides another preservation threshold for conical timber lodges. In the Central and
Northern Rocky Mountains, fire disturbance intervals are as infrequent as 500 years to as frequent as 40
years in warm, mesic Douglas fir and lower subalpine lodgepole pine vegetation communities where
many conical timber lodges are located (Brown 2000 Brown, James K. (2000) Introduction and Fire
Regimes. In Wildland Fire in Ecosystems: Effects of Fire on Flora, edited by James K. Brown, and Jane
Kapler Smith, pp. 1–7. USDA Forest, General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-42-Volume 2. Forest
Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort Collins, Colorado. ). The mean interval of mixedseverity and stand-replacement fires in a Douglas fir forest is 65 and 170 years, respectively (Fryer and
Luensmann 2012 Fryer, Janet L., and Peggy S. Luensmann (2012) Fire regimes of the conterminous
United States.
http://www.fs.fed.us.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/database/feis/fire_regime_table/PNVG_fire_regime_table.html,
accessed June 11, 2012. :7–8). In subalpine lodgepole pine forest, the mean interval of mixed-severity
and stand-replacement fires is 450 and 170 years, respectively (Fryer and Luensmann 2012 Fryer, Janet
L., and Peggy S. Luensmann (2012) Fire regimes of the conterminous United States.
http://www.fs.fed.us.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/database/feis/fire_regime_table/PNVG_fire_regime_table.html,
accessed June 11, 2012. :7–8; Lotan et al. 1985 Lotan, James E., James K. Brown, and Leon F.
Neuenschwander (1985) Role of Fire in Lodgepole Pine Forests. In Lodgepole Pine: The Species and its
Management Symposium Proceedings, edited by D. M. Baumgartner, R. G. Krebill, J. T. Arnott, and C. F.
Weetman, pp. 133–152. Washington State University, Pullman. :139–141).
Fire frequency and severity are influenced by forest type and structure, fuels loading, weather conditions,
climate patterns, and human activity (Schoennagel et al. 2004 Schoennagel, Tania, Thomas T. Verblen,
and William H. Romme (2004) The Interaction of Fire, Fuels, and Climate across Rocky Mountain
Forests. BioScience 54(7):661–676.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], ). Nonetheless, these data show that
mixed-severity and stand-replacement wildfire in the Central Rocky Mountains have reduced many
conical lodges (and other archaeological wood features) to ashes over the last 400 years. The vulnerability
of conical lodges to wildfire was likely contingent on the environmental setting. For example, lodges in
open meadows or riparian areas (such as Lava Creek, 48YE2) or protected in rockshelters (such as
Wickiup Cave, 24BE601) would have had a (slightly) better chance of survival from mixed-severity
wildfire than those in a dense forest. Further, fires started by lightning or by native peoples to enhance
local food gathering areas, clear trails, or promote game and/or horse forage possibly created ‘fuel breaks’
that protected and prolonged the life of some wood lodges (Barrett and Arno 1999 Barrett, Stephen W.,
and Stephen F. Arno (1999) Indian Fires in the Northern Rockies: Ethnohistory and Ecology. In Indians,
Fire and the Land in the Pacific Northwest, edited by Robert T. Boyd, pp. 50–64. Oregon State
University Press, Corvallis. ). In any event, concerted wildfire suppression, forest fuels accumulation,
insect infestation and disease, and climate change since the turn of the twentieth century have led to
ecological conditions that today put all surviving conical lodges and other perishable wood features at
high risk (Dale et al. 2001 Dale, Virginia H., Linda A. Joyce, Steve McNulty, Ronald P. Neilson,
Matthew P. Ayres, Michael D. Flannigan, Paul J. Hansen, Lloyd C. Irland, Ariel E. Lugo, Chris J.
Peterson, Daniel Simberloff, Frederick J. Swanson, Brian J. Stocks, and B. Michael Wotton (2001)
Climate Change and Forest Disturbance. Bioscience 51:723–734.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], ).
In sum, forestry decomposition rate and fire frequency models provide broad preservation thresholds of
approximately 300 to 400 years for wood lodges located in Central Rocky Mountain forests.
Dendrochronology and archaeological evidence indicate that most surviving lodges date significantly later
to the nineteenth century. These data should not imply that conical lodges were solely a product of the
Protohistoric or Historic periods. Rather, as previously discussed, older lodges have disappeared through
various natural processes and their earlier presence may only now be detected as surface or buried
archaeological materials, as attested by the Boulder Ridge site (48PA2642) in the Absaroka Mountains of
northwest Wyoming.
Use patterns
The use of conical timber structures as war lodges is widely documented in the ethnohistorical literature.
That conical lodges represent war lodges was fostered by the observations of Grinnell (1901 Grinnell,
George Bird (1901) The Lodges of the Blackfeet. American Anthropologist 3:650–688.[Crossref], ),
Schultz (1907 Schultz, James Willard (1907) My Life as an Indian: The Story of a Red Woman and a
White Man in the Lodges of the Blackfeet. Doubleday, Page & Company, New York. ), Kelly (1926
Kelly, Luther S. (1926) Yellowstone Kelly. Yale University Press, New Haven. ), Russell (Haines 1955
Haines, Aubrey L. (editor) (1955) Journal of a Trapper (1834–1843), by Osborne Russell. University of
Nebraska Press, Lincoln. ), Bourke (1971 Bourke, John G. (1971) [1891] On the Border with Crook.
Charles Scribner's Sons., New York. 1971 fascimile ed. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. ), and
other frontiersmen, military officers, and travelers, and perpetuated and expanded by anthropologists
Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and Use. American
Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], , 1958), Kidwell (1969 Kidwell, Arthur Spaulding (1969) The
Conical Timbered Lodge on the Northwestern Plains: Historical, Ethnological, and Archaeological
Evidence. Archaeology in Montana 10(4):1–49. ), Malouf (1963 Malouf, Carling (1963) Battle Pits and
War Lodges. Archaeology in Montana 2(5):1–11. Missoula. ), Des Rosier (1965 Des Rosier, Fred L.
(1965) Kutenai War Lodges. Archaeology in Montana 6(1):14. ), Voget (1971), and others.
For the Blackfeet, Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and
Use. American Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], , 1958) provided construction details and accounts
of their use in horse-raiding and warfare. Poles, pine bough, and brush war lodges were built in heavily
timbered or secluded areas, usually near water, within one or two days journey from the enemy camp.
Tightly enclosed lodges thus offered shelter from the elements, contained campfire smoke and light,
served as a supply base, and provided defensive protection during surprise attacks (Ewers 1958:130–132).
Bigger lodges or multiple lodges were built to accommodate large war parties. War lodge entrances were
strategically located so that warriors could escape or defend against a surprise attack. The Crow made
sturdy conical-shaped war lodges from cottonwood and pine poles, often braced against a standing tree
(Lowie 1922:261–262; Voget 1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians.
Archaeology in Montana 18(2–3):1–18. :43). The Cheyenne, Cree, Hidatsa, and most Plains Indian bands
built temporary timber shelters while on the warpath, primarily during the winter months (Denig
1930:554; Grinnell 1924:49–50; Teit 1930:359). Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War
Lodge: Its Construction and Use. American Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], :189–190), Lowie
(1922:259), and others suggest that the locations of timber shelters were generally known by band
members and allies, resulting in their repair, salvage, and reuse. They were abandoned when discovered
by enemies. The protective value of pole war lodges against gunfire varied, as Osborne Russell's grim
narrative of a fight between the Blackfeet and white trappers attests (Haines 1955 Haines, Aubrey L.
(editor) (1955) Journal of a Trapper (1834–1843), by Osborne Russell. University of Nebraska Press,
Lincoln. :52). Not all war lodges were built of vertical timbers. The Crow and Shoshone inserted willow
branches in the ground in a semi-cylindrical shape and then covered them with blankets or canvas for
warmth (Bourke 1971 Bourke, John G. (1971) [1891] On the Border with Crook. Charles Scribner's
Sons., New York. 1971 fascimile ed. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. :301–302, 340).
Increased tribal militarism, horse raiding, and warfare during the Protohistoric and Historic periods
apparently accelerated the construction of conical lodges, cribbed and truncated log structures, forts,
breastworks, and corrals (Voget 1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians.
Archaeology in Montana 18(2–3):1–18. :10–11). It is worth noting that not all brush and log structures
can be attributed to Indian bands since trapping brigades, military expeditions, and western travelers also
built structures as shelter, to corral livestock, and to defend against Indian attacks (e.g., Leonard 1904
Leonard, Zenas (1904) Adventures of Zenas Leonard Fur Trader and Trapper 1831–1836, edited by W.F.
Wagner The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, Ohio. :70, 262). In any case, the archaeological
evidence of weaponry of any kind is rare among the known conical lodge sites (or other wood features),
with the exception of the rifle barrel recovered at the Evans lodge (24GV405) and gun flints and lead balls
at the Janich site (24ML411) in central Montana (Joyes 1968 Joyes, Dennis (1968) The Evans Wickiup
Site (24GV405). Archaeology in Montana 9(2):1–17. ). Further, the presence of weapons or weapon parts
need not automatically imply raiding and warfare since they were also used for hunting and personal
protection.
In addition to their role in the Plains war complex, conical timber lodges served utilitarian and religious
purposes, including hunting, cooking, hide preparation, elopement, eagle trapping, healing, mourning,
menstruation, and sweats (Bowers 1950 Bowers, Alfred (1950) Mandan Social and Ceremonial
Organization. University of Chicago Press, Illinois. :206; Bushnell 1922 Bushnell, David I. Jr. (1922)
Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi. Bureau of American
Ethnology Bulletin 77, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. :147–148; Curtis 1909 Curtis, Edward
S. (1909) The North American Indian. The University Press, Cambridge. :21; Dempsey 2001 Dempsey,
Hugh A. (2001) Blackfoot. In Plains, edited by J Raymond, DeMallie, pp. 604–628. Handbook of North
American Indians, Volume 13, William C. Sturtevant, general editor, Smithsonian Institution,
Washington, DC. :614, Figure 7; Grinnell 1919; Lowie 1909 Lowie, Robert H. (1909) The Northern
Shoshone. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History Papers 2(2):169–
303. :183, 1983:89–90; Mandelbaum 1940 Mandelbaum, David G. (1940) The Plains Cree.
Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, 37(2):153–316. :212; Steward
1943:272–274). Wood shelters were constructed by band members who were unable to obtain sufficient
hides for a skin-covered lodge (Steward 1943:272; Voget 1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of
the Crow Indians. Archaeology in Montana 18(2–3):1–18. :9–10). Conical lodges built as emergency
shelters, particularly in mountain environments, are called ‘storm huts’ among the Blackfeet people
(Maria Zedeño, personal communication 2013). These Blackfeet structures typically consisting of a dozen
tree branches arranged in a circular shape were built by hunters and warriors, and at certain task camps. In
a similar vein, Bies (2011 Bies, Michael T. (2011) Conical Pole Lodges and Possible Prehistoric Travel
Routes. Paper presented at the 10th Biennial Rocky Mountain Anthropological Conference, Missoula,
Montana. ) hypothesized that conical lodges in the Absaroka Range were used as expedient shelters
(storm huts?) built adjacent to a mountain travel route. The domestic and utilitarian functions of conical
timber lodges are difficult to prove from the existing archaeological evidence with a few exceptions such
as Big Sheep Creek Wickiup Cave (Davis 1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains
Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis Online], ). The density, diversity, and patterning of faunal
remains, hearth features, tools, and other debris within and outside the structure may eventually help to
gain an understanding of some lodges and the behavioral contexts in which they were built and used.
Based on robust ethnographic evidence, Allen (1983 Allen, Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little
Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of the Northern Plains 50:4–22. ) documented the
association of archaeologically known conical lodges in western North Dakota with eagle trapping among
the Plains Village Tradition Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan who laid claim to trapping rights along the
length of the Little Missouri River. Lodge selection was strongly predicated by the location of eagle
trapping pits, usually at the crest of ridges and steep badland escarpments (Allen 1983 Allen, Walter E.
(1983) Eagle Trapping in the Little Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of the Northern
Plains 50:4–22. :8–12). The surviving conical timber lodges are estimated to post-date A.D. 1880. The
age of some pits likely extended further back in time. Lodges were considered sacred when the eagle
hunting bundle or a bison skull altar was placed inside. Conical lodges alternated as winter hunting
shelters in the Little Missouri River badlands (Allen 1983 Allen, Walter E. (1983) Eagle Trapping in the
Little Missouri Badlands. North Dakota History Journal of the Northern Plains 50:4–22. :5). It is unclear
if the lodges were well concealed as a ceremonial requirement or if for protection from Dakota (Sioux) or
other enemies. Conical lodges also served various utilitarian functions associated with the occupation of
winter earth lodge villages (Bowers 1965:58–59; Parks 2001 Parks, Douglas R. (2001) Arikara. In Plains,
edited by Raymond J. DeMallie, pp. 695–717. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 13, William C.
Sturtevant, general editor, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. :368). Voget's (1977:6–7) Hidatsa
informant reported that his people built conical lodges along the Little Missouri River to escape
eighteenth and nineteenth-century smallpox epidemics.
In the Great Basin, Shoshone bands built structures (wickiups) of willow, pole, brush, tule, bark, earth,
and rock (O'Connell and Erickson 1974 O'Connell, James F., and Jonathan E. Erickson (1974) Earth
Lodges to Wickiups: A Long Sequence of Domestic Structures from the Northern Great Basin. In A
Collection of Papers on Great Basin Archaeology, edited by Robert Elston, and Loretta Sabini, pp. 43–
61. Nevada Archaeological Research Papers No. 5, University of Nevada, Reno. ; Steward 1943:272–
273, 305–309). In the Central Rocky Mountains and adjacent Northwestern Plains, the conical timber
lodge was apparently the mountain/plains equivalent of the Great Basin wickiup built by Numic
(Shoshone) peoples who had migrated into this region. The single conical lodge in Wickiup Cave
(24BE601) in southwest Montana appears to have served as a domestic residence (Figures 2 and 3) where
several or more individuals slept on beds of boughs and grasses inside a large lodge (Davis 1975 Davis,
Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis Online], :299). An
abundance of artifacts, including Intermountain Ware pottery, was interpreted to indicate a seasonal camp
occupied by a Mountain (Tukidika, Sheep Eater) Shoshone family during the Protohistoric or Historic
period (Davis 1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor &
Francis Online], :304–305). As previously described, a conical lodge was completely consumed by a
2003 wildfire in the Absaroka Mountains of northwest Wyoming (Eakin 2005 Eakin, Daniel H. (2005)
Evidence for Shoshonean Bighorn sheep Trapping and Early Historic Occupation in the Absaroka
Mountains of Northwest Wyoming. University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center 29th
Annual Report 2005, pp. 74–86. University of Wyoming, Laramie. ). Detailed mapping of fire-exposed
artifacts revealed distinct bone scatters, knapping areas, stone tools, ceramics, metal, and glass artifacts
probably representing a (Mountain) Shoshone occupation (Scheiber and Finely 2010).
For aboriginal bands such as the Shoshone who occupied eastern Idaho, southwest Montana, and
northwest Wyoming in the nineteenth century, conical timber lodges probably provided shelter better
suited to mountain environments. Tipis required numerous hides which would have been difficult to
obtain, maintain, and transport on mountain trails, especially by pedestrian bands using dog travois
(Loendorf and Stone 2006 Loendorf, Larry, and Nancy Medaris Stone (2006) Mountain Spirit: The Sheep
Eater Indians of Yellowstone. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. :103–110; Voget 1977 Voget,
Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians. Archaeology in Montana 18(2–3):1–18. :9). For
hunting and war parties on the move, hide tipis were impractical, necessitating only expediently
constructed wood pole, cribbed log, or brush and willow lodges, at least in the winter months.
As discussed by Seymour (2009 Seymour, Deni J. (2009) Nineteenth-century Apache Wickiups:
Historically Documented Models for Archaeological Signatures of the Dwellings of Mobile People.
Antiquity 83:157–164.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], :162) for Apache wickiups, the shelters of mobile
hunter-gatherers were not intended to contain all activities associated with our contemporary conception
of dwellings. Whether located in mountain, foothills, plains, or basin environments, many basic activities
were carried on outside of the shelter for reasons of space, comfort, shade, sanitation, and safety.
Enclosed shelters provided ‘secluded space for sleeping, privacy, storage, corralling children, and
protection from the elements’ (Seymour 2009 Seymour, Deni J. (2009) Nineteenth-century Apache
Wickiups: Historically Documented Models for Archaeological Signatures of the Dwellings of Mobile
People. Antiquity 83:157–164.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®], :162). Thus, pole lodges were augmented
by exterior work spaces and other temporary structures, as was in evidence at the Boulder Ridge site
(48PA2642) in northwest Wyoming (Scheiber and Finley 2010 Scheiber, Laura L., and Judson Byrd
Finley (2010) Mountain Shoshone Technological Transitions Across the Great Divide. In Across the
Great Divide: Culture Contact and Culture Change in North America at AD 1500, edited by L. L.
Scheiber, and M. Mitchell, pp. 128–148. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. ). The surrounding
landscape may be as important to understanding conical timber lodge age, function, use, and cultural
association as the lodge itself.
Cultural association
The Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains are characterized by complex aboriginal histories
during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The candidate list of conical lodge builders in these
regions is therefore long and, at minimum, includes Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine-Gros Ventre,
Bannock, Blackfeet, Cree, Cheyenne, Chippewa, Coeur d'Alene, Crow, Hidatsa, Kiowa, Kootenai, Nez
Perce, Salish, Shoshone, Sioux, and Ute (e.g., Denig 1930; Ewers 1958; Grinnell 1924; Janetski 1987
Janetski, Joel C. (1987) The Indians of Yellowstone Park. Bonneville Books, University of Utah Press,
Salt Lake City. ; Liljeblad 1972 Liljeblad, Sven (1972) The Idaho Indians in Transition, 1805–1960.
Special Publication of the Idaho State University Museum, Pocatello. ; Lowie 1909 Lowie, Robert H.
(1909) The Northern Shoshone. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History
Papers 2(2):169–303. ; Nabokov and Loendorf 2004 Nabokov, Peter, and Lawrence Loendorf (2004)
Restoring a Presence: American Indians and Yellowstone National Park. University of Oklahoma Press,
Norman. ).
The number of interlocking foundation poles has been viewed by archaeologists as a way to potentially
infer cultural association based on comparisons with the ethnographic record of pole tipi construction, as
previously discussed (Wenker 1992 Wenker, Chris T. (1992) Native American Timber Structures of the
Northwestern Plains. Archaeology in Montana 33(1):25–33. [Google Scholar]; White and White 2012
White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012) Wickiups of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem:
Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National Forest, Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone
National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National Park Service, Yellowstone Center for
Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. [Google Scholar]). Such correlations have thus far
proven ambiguous. For example, the four-pole foundation ethnographically ascribed to the Northern
Shoshone lodges does not match the conical lodge foundations at Wickiup Cave nor the Pass Creek sites
in southwest Montana, although a Shoshone presence is well documented at both sites (Davis 1975 Davis,
Carl M. (1975) Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Google
Scholar]; Davis and Scott 1987 Davis, Carl M., and Sara A. Scott (1987) The Pass Creek Wickiups:
Northern Shoshone Hunting Lodges in Southwest Montana. Plains Anthropologist 32:83–92.[Taylor &
Francis Online], [Google Scholar]; Wenker 1992 Wenker, Chris T. (1992) Native American Timber
Structures of the Northwestern Plains. Archaeology in Montana 33(1):25–33. [Google Scholar]:9–10). In
fact, ethnographies may not fully account for variability in pole lodge construction. Further, hide and pole
tipi and conical lodge construction may not be directly analogous given the different materials used in
their fabrication.
Conical lodges scattered throughout the mountain ranges and basins of Montana and Wyoming were the
shelters of different, often widely travelled, tribal groups engaged in hunting, horse raiding, and
sometimes warfare in enemy territory. The ethnohistorical and ethnographic evidence for Blackfeet and
Crow use of timber shelters as war lodges is compelling but other tribes followed suite, especially as
horse-raiding and military action increased throughout the Protohistoric and Historic periods (Binnema
2001 Binnema, Theodore (2001) Common & Contested Ground: A Human and Environmental History of
the Northwestern Plains. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. [Google Scholar]:129–197; McGinnis
1990 McGinnis, Anthony (1990) Counting Coup and Cutting Horses: Intertribal Warfare on the
Northern Plains 1738–1889. Cordillera Press, Evergreen, Colorado. [Google Scholar]:35–47). As a
consequence of this fluid historical situation, associating a specific conical lodge with a specific tribal
group is nearly impossible without collaborating archaeological, informant, or ethnohistorical evidence.
The tribal informants in the YNP study were unable to associate a known conical lodge or lodge style
with a specific tribal group (White and White 2012 White, David R. M., and Katharine L. White (2012)
Wickiups of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem: Conical Timber Lodges within Bridger-Teton National
Forest, Grand Teton National Forest, Shoshone National Forest, and Yellowstone National Park. National
Park Service, Yellowstone Center for Resources, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. [Google
Scholar]:59–62). In one rare example of a documented cultural association, a Northern (Lemhi) Shoshone
family group from the Lemhi Reservation in Idaho used several conical pole lodges at Pass Creek
(24BE70) early in the twentieth century, according to a local rancher on whose property the Indians were
partially encamped (Davis and Scott 1987 Davis, Carl M., and Sara A. Scott (1987) The Pass Creek
Wickiups: Northern Shoshone Hunting Lodges in Southwest Montana. Plains Anthropologist 32:83–
92.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]:89–91). In fact, conical timber lodges in southwest
Montana, northwest Wyoming and east Idaho are frequently attributed to Shoshone bands based on a
wealth of Shoshone historical and ethnographic evidence (Dominick 1964 Dominick, David (1964) The
Sheep Eaters. Annals of Wyoming 36(2):231–268. [Google Scholar]; Hultkrantz 1961 Hultkrantz, Ake
(1961) The Shoshones in the Rocky Mountain Area. Annals of Wyoming 33(1):19–41. [Google Scholar];
Lowie 1909 Lowie, Robert H. (1909) The Northern Shoshone. Anthropological Papers of the American
Museum of Natural History Papers 2(2):169–303. [Google Scholar]; Murphy and Murphy 1960 Murphy,
Robert F., and Yolanda Murphy (1960) Shoshone-Bannock Subsistence and Society. University of
California Anthropological Records 16(7):294–338. [Google Scholar]; Steward 1938 Steward, Julian H.
(1938) Basin-Plateau Aboriginal Sociopolitical Groups. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin No. 120.
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. [Google Scholar]; Stewart 1958 Stewart, Omer C. (1958)
Shoshone History and Social Organization. Reprinted from II Tomo de Actas XXXIII Congreso
International de Americanistas, pp. 134–142, Celebrad en San Jose de Costa Rica. [Google Scholar]) and
archaeological data (Adams 2010 Adams, Richard (2010) Archaeology with Altitude: Late Prehistoric
Settlement and Subsistence in the Northern Wind River Range, Wyoming. Ph.D. dissertation, Department
of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie. [Google Scholar]; Davis 1975 Davis, Carl M. (1975)
Wickiup Cave. Plains Anthropologist 20:297–305.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]; Davis
and Scott 1987 Davis, Carl M., and Sara A. Scott (1987) The Pass Creek Wickiups: Northern Shoshone
Hunting Lodges in Southwest Montana. Plains Anthropologist 32:83–92.[Taylor & Francis
Online], [Google Scholar]; Davis et al. 2009 Davis, Carl M., Leslie B. Davis, Ann M. Johnson, and
Patricia A. Dean (2009) The Late Pre-contact Intermountain Ceramic Tradition and the Historic Sheep
Eater Shoshone. Unpublished manuscript in authors’ possession. [Google Scholar]; Eakin 2005 Eakin,
Daniel H. (2005) Evidence for Shoshonean Bighorn sheep Trapping and Early Historic Occupation in the
Absaroka Mountains of Northwest Wyoming. University of Wyoming National Park Service Research
Center 29th Annual Report 2005, pp. 74–86. University of Wyoming, Laramie. [Google Scholar]; Larson
and Kornfeld 1994 Larson, Mary Lou, and Marcel Kornfeld (1994) Betwixt and Between the Basin and
the Plains: The Limits of Numic Expansion. In: Across the West Human Population Movement and the
Expansion of the Numa, edited by David B. Madsen, and David Rhode, pp. 200–210. University of Utah
Press: Salt Lake City. [Google Scholar]; Scheiber and Finley 2010 Scheiber, Laura L., and Judson Byrd
Finley (2010) Mountain Shoshone Technological Transitions Across the Great Divide. In Across the
Great Divide: Culture Contact and Culture Change in North America at AD 1500, edited by L. L.
Scheiber, and M. Mitchell, pp. 128–148. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. [Google Scholar]).
However, throughout the turbulent Protohistoric and Historic periods this region was inhabited and
travelled by various Plains and intermountain Indian bands who may (or may not) have built timber
structures for shelter or other various purposes.
The origin of the conical timber lodge is speculative. As one of the simplest forms of human shelter,
conical pole and brush lodges probably did not originate in a specific region or cultural area, or with a
specific cultural group (Faegre 1980 Faegre, Torvald (1980) Tents: Architecture of Nomads. Anchor
Books, Garden City. [Google Scholar]). A northeastern woodlands-boreal forest derivation was
nonetheless proposed by Wissler (1910 Wissler, Clark (1910) Material Culture of the Blackfoot Indians.
Anthropological Papers 5, Pt. 1. American Museum of Natural History, New York. [Google Scholar]:117)
based on the prevalence of pole, bark, and thatch wigwams and pole houses in that region. His narrative
suggested that native people migrating to the Great Plains relied on an array of wood shelter types. Once
the pole and hide tipi came into wide use on the Plains in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth centuries as
part of a nomadic economy, traditional wood shelters of whatever type quickly gave way to more
adaptable and transportable pole and hide tipis (Brasser 1982 Brasser, Ted J. (1982) The Tipi as an
Element of the Emergence of Historic Plains Indian Nomadism. Plains Anthropologist 27:309–
321.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Google Scholar]:310–311). Expanding on this concept, Ewers (1944
Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its Construction and Use. American Anthropologist
46:182–192.[Crossref], [Google Scholar]:191) considered the Blackfeet war lodge to be a specialized
form of a tipi.
In contrast, Voget (1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians. Archaeology in
Montana 18(2–3):1–18. [Google Scholar]:11) argued that timber shelter construction was primarily a
Historic period phenomenon on the Northwestern Plains, precipitated by prolonged winter warfare, an
increase in the number and frequency of war parties, and the need for both defensive protection against
gunfire and security to shelter horses and booty. The abundance of conical lodges, cribbed log structures,
and defensive breastworks apparently dating to the Protohistoric and Historic periods lends tentative
support to Voget's hypothesis, although it discounts preservation factors (Wenker 1992 Wenker, Chris T.
(1992) Native American Timber Structures of the Northwestern Plains. Archaeology in Montana
33(1):25–33. [Google Scholar]:23).
Complicating matters, the neighboring eastern Great Basin has its own deep history of pole, thatch, and
brush shelter construction unrelated to the Eastern Woodlands or the Northwestern Plains (O'Connell and
Erickson 1974 O'Connell, James F., and Jonathan E. Erickson (1974) Earth Lodges to Wickiups: A Long
Sequence of Domestic Structures from the Northern Great Basin. In A Collection of Papers on Great
Basin Archaeology, edited by Robert Elston, and Loretta Sabini, pp. 43–61. Nevada Archaeological
Research Papers No. 5, University of Nevada, Reno. [Google Scholar]). Shoshone bands migrating from
this region into the mountains and valleys of east-central Idaho, southwest Montana, and northwest
Wyoming adapted this Great Basin housing style. These typically sturdier structures are now termed
conical timber lodges by archaeologists. In this regard, dating of the Numic expansion into the Central
Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains is controversial, potentially involving multiple migrations
ranging in date between 200 and 2,000 years ago, if not significantly earlier (Aikens and Witherspoon
1986 Aikens, C. Melvin, and Younger T. Witherspoon (1986) Great Basin Prehistory: Linguistics,
Archaeology, and Environment. In Anthropology of the Desert West Essays in Honor of Jesse D.
Jennings, edited by Carol J. Condie, and Don D. Fowler, pp. 7–20. University of Utah Anthropological
Papers Number 110, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. [Google Scholar]; Davis et al. 2005 Davis,
Carl M., Leslie B. Davis, Ann M. Johnson, and Patricia A. Dean (2009) The Late Pre-contact
Intermountain Ceramic Tradition and the Historic Sheep Eater Shoshone. Unpublished manuscript in
authors’ possession. [Google Scholar]; Holmer 1990 Holmer, Richard N. (1990) Prehistory of the
Northern Shoshone. In Fort Hall and the Shoshone-Bannock, edited by E. S. Lohse, and R. N. Holmer,
pp. 41–59. Idaho State University, Pocatello. [Google Scholar]; Larson and Kornfeld 1994 Larson, Mary
Lou, and Marcel Kornfeld (1994) Betwixt and Between the Basin and the Plains: The Limits of Numic
Expansion. In: Across the West Human Population Movement and the Expansion of the Numa, edited by
David B. Madsen, and David Rhode, pp. 200–210. University of Utah Press: Salt Lake City. [Google
Scholar]). Scheiber and Finley (2010 Scheiber, Laura L., and Judson Byrd Finley (2010) Mountain
Shoshone Technological Transitions Across the Great Divide. In Across the Great Divide: Culture
Contact and Culture Change in North America at AD 1500, edited by L. L. Scheiber, and M. Mitchell, pp.
128–148. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. [Google Scholar]) think that a surviving Mountain
Shoshone tradition on the Yellowstone Plateau, as observed by early western travelers and YNP
managers, was prompted by Euroamerican expansion and is the consequence of pushing an indigenous
people to the margins. In any case, the conical timber lodge was adapted to the mountain and plains by
Numic peoples.
At present, a single, albeit tentative, interpretation may accommodate these differing perspectives.
Conical timber lodges have a long history on the Northwestern Plains, whatever their ultimate origin.
Archaic and Late Prehistoric period house features, demarcated by post holes, depressions and pits,
indicate familiarity with wood structural elements (e.g., Frison 1971 Frison, George C. (1971)
Shoshonean Antelope Procurement in the Upper Green River Basin, Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist
15:258–284. [Google Scholar]:259–260; Harrell et al. 1997 Harrell, Lynn L., Hoefer Ted, III, and Scott T.
McKern (1997) Archaic Housepits in the Wyoming Basin. In Changing Perspectives on the Archaic of
the Northwest Plains and Rocky Mountains, edited by Mary Lou Larson, and Julie E. Francis, pp. 334–
367. University of South Dakota Press, Vermillion. [Google Scholar]). It may be inferred that simply
constructed, vertical pole and brush shelters complimented the use of pit houses, cribbed log structures,
and pole-hide tipis throughout much of the Northwestern Plains prehistory for the cultural uses previously
described. During the Late Prehistoric through Protohistoric periods, Shoshone bands migrating into the
Central Rockies adopted the conical timber lodge as a form of housing in mountain and foothill
environments. Lastly, during the Protohistoric and Historic periods, wood structures (war lodges,
breastworks, and corrals) proliferated in response to intensified raiding and warfare across the
Northwestern Plains, as posited by Ewers (1944 Ewers, John C. (1944) The Blackfoot War Lodge: Its
Construction and Use. American Anthropologist 46:182–192.[Crossref], [Google Scholar]), Kidwell
(1969 Kidwell, Arthur Spaulding (1969) The Conical Timbered Lodge on the Northwestern Plains:
Historical, Ethnological, and Archaeological Evidence. Archaeology in Montana 10(4):1–49. [Google
Scholar]), Voget (1977 Voget, Fred W. (1977) Timber Shelters of the Crow Indians. Archaeology in
Montana 18(2–3):1–18. [Google Scholar]) and others. This long and overlapping history of pole and
brush shelter use has been obscured by the poor survival rate of wood ruins, lack of timely and systematic
field investigation, and research frameworks that do not fully integrate the range of shelter types and
housing once used by mobile hunter-gatherers across this region.
Conclusion
A total of 92 conical timber lodge sites are currently recorded on the Northwestern Plains and in the
Central Rocky Mountains. This total number would likely change with more concerted conical lodge
survey and investigation. The majority of lodges are located in southwest Montana and northwest
Wyoming. Whether this distribution reflects archaeological sampling, preservation conditions, or cultural
factors is unclear. The strong clustering of conical lodges (and other wood features) in east Idaho,
southwest Montana, and northwest Wyoming seems to point to Shoshone and Crow bands who inhabited
this mountainous region during the Protohistoric and Historic periods.
These perishable archaeological features are in varying states of preservation, with many on the verge of
collapse or complete disintegration. While forestry decomposition models and fire frequency studies
provide generous preservation thresholds of 300 to 400 years for wood features in the Central Rocky
Mountains, most surviving conical lodges probably date to the nineteenth century, based on
dendrochronological and archaeological evidence from a handful of lodge sites.
Ethnohistorical and ethnographic evidence, and to a lesser extent archaeological data, indicate that conical
timber lodges functioned in a variety of ways over a vast geographic area to accommodate the diverse
cultural needs of native peoples. The traditional interpretation that conical timber lodges were
predominantly built for raiding and warfare probably reflects a gender bias towards better documented,
more dramatic and visible, male-dominated activities at the expense of mundane domestic and utilitarian
functions. At this juncture, the archaeological evidence for war lodges is no more compelling than for
other uses.
As a heuristic model, conical lodge distribution and function may be presently regarded as follows. On
the eastern periphery of the Northwestern Plains, along the Little Missouri River and its tributaries,
conical lodges served a ceremonial role in eagle trapping among the Hidatsa, Mandan, Arikara, and other
Middle Missouri groups. Where located near prime eagle trapping sites, lodges were intensively used and
frequently rebuilt. When not used for eagle trapping, these same lodges were occupied by winter hunting
parties from various Middle Missouri villages. Some conical lodges were built or used by villagers
escaping the ravages of eighteenth and nineteenth-century smallpox epidemics.
Further west, across the broad arc of the Northwestern Plains and the Wyoming Basin, conical shelters
were constructed, used, and reused as war lodges throughout Protohistoric and Historic periods, and
perhaps earlier, by many Plains Indian groups. These structures were scattered throughout mountain
ranges, foothills, and river bottoms in secluded but relatively accessible areas for staging raids and
conducting warfare among enemy tribes. Lodges were built of sturdy timber to maintain warmth in
winter, concealment, and protection from enemy attacks. As warfare intensified in the Historic period,
Plains Indian groups expanded their use of cribbed timber structures, forts, defensive breastworks,
entrenchments, and also built fences and horse corrals.
At the same time, conical lodges throughout this region functioned as temporary hunting camps and
emergency shelters. Simple pole and brush structures served various special purposes as cooking and hide
preparation areas, menstrual huts, elopement lodges, ceremonial spaces, storm shelters, and caches. Band
members who could not attain sufficient hides for tipis resorted to pole and brush structures for shelter.
On the western periphery of the Northwestern Plains in the Central Rocky Mountains, some conical
lodges functioned as domestic residences. Among Shoshone bands, an ancient tradition of willow, brush,
and grass domiciles (wickiups) in the Great Basin apparently translated into more sturdy, durable timber
housing (conical timber lodges) in the central Rockies and Northwestern Plains during the Protohistoric
and Historic Periods, if not significantly earlier.
The origin and cultural associations of conical lodges remain problematic given the entangled culture
history of the Central Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains during the Protohistoric and Historic
periods. Archaeological evidence from a few conical lodge sites in southwest Montana and northwest
Wyoming indicates Shoshone and possibly Crow habitation. In addition, ethnographic evidence strongly
points to the Arikara, Mandan and other groups as the builders of conical lodges along the Little Missouri
River. Otherwise, for the majority of reported conical lodges, cultural association is unknown.
Understanding the origin, age, use, and cultural association of conical timber lodges ultimately requires
immediate and more rigorous investigation and standardized recording of the surviving conical pole
structures. Research must be contextualized with ethnohistorical data and by tribal-descendant community
collaboration and input. These baseline data may eventually enable researchers to more fully incorporate
conical timber lodges and other perishable wood structures into broader research contexts, including
Protohistoric and Historic period hunter–gatherer social structure, seasonality, mobility, trade,
adaptations, militarism, colonialism, and culture change on the Northwestern Plains and Central Rocky
Mountains. Accurate lodge information is also essential to informed CRM practice on public lands,
particularly wildfire protection and vandalism prevention. Conical timber lodge investigation is a race
against time as natural deterioration, wildfire, livestock grazing, and vandalism threaten this highly fragile
and rapidly vanishing archaeological resource.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks Richard Adams, Eric Carlson, Les Davis, Merv Floodman, Liv Fetterman, Carol
Hearne, Suzann Henrickson, Glenda King, Jeremy Karchut, Larry Kingsbury, Damon Murdo, Edith
Palmer, Jeremy Planteen, Ryan Powell, Shannon Vihlene, Molly Westby, Steve Wright, and Maria
Zedeño for their assistance with state file searches, agency site forms, photographs, illustrations, and
ethnographic data. Larry Loendorf, Marcel Kornfeld, Sara Scott, Pei-Lin Yu, and an anonymous reviewer
are thanked for their many helpful suggestions, which substantially improved the original manuscript.
–, no data; all measurements are in meters (m) at maximum dimension. Wood Type: AS, aspen; CW,
cottonwood; C, cedar; LP, Lodgepole pine; DF, Douglas fir; JP, juniper; SP, spruce; and WbP, Whitebark
Pine. Water: Ck, creek, Pd, pond, Md, meadow-marsh; and Sp, spring, Status: B, burned; C, collapsed;
PC, partly collapsed; S, standing. Foundation indicates the number of poles.
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Carl M. Davis
Carl Davis is a regional archaeologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Missoula, Montana. He earned his
Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. His research concerns Northwestern
Plains and Intermountain West prehistory and cultural resource management policy and practice.
Correspondence to: Carl Davis, U.S. Forest Service, Northern Region, 200 East Broadway, Missoula,
Montana, 59807, USA. Email: cmdavis@fs.fed.us