Death and Burial among the First Montanans

Retired MHS interpretive historian Ellen Baumler discusses how much of what we know about the rituals and beliefs of Montana’s earliest people comes from happenstance encounters with burials and mortuary practices. From Park County’s 12,600-year-old Anzick site to Dawson County’s Hagen Site National Historic Landmark and the more recent “Face on the Rims” in urban Billings, burial sites teach us much about universal beliefs and cultural practices that survived for thousands of years.