Online Rock Art Lectures

April 12, 2025

Early Fur Trade Activity in the Northern Bighorn Basin of Wyoming as Shown in an Indigenous Petroglyph -Mike Bies  Register

This talk will focus on an indigenous petroglyph discovered in December of 2017. Background information will be included on Contact Era indigenous art of the region and the other petroglyph images found at the site. The site is in the north central Bighorn Basin just south of Pryor Gap in southern Montana. There are fifteen rock art panels and an associated open camp with ceramics, lithics and fire cracked rock. The historic materials at the site reflect the presence of the Polecat Oilfield and nearby powerline.

Bio: Michael T. Bies is based in Wyoming and is the owner and principal investigator of OW Heritage Research He has worked as an archaeologist for the BLM and other agencies for over 40 years.  He’s won many awards including of the Wyoming Archaeological Society’s Golden Trowel Award, BLM Wyoming, Cultural Heritage Specialist of the Year in 2007, and the American Rock Art Research Association’s Conservation and Preservation Award.  Mike is currently the Chairman of the Washakie County Historic Preservation Commission.