"UA researchers are looking for, among other things, how fire changed the landscape of the Northern Great Plains as ancient hunters went after big game.

Researchers from the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona are investigating the complex relationship between climate change and modifications that humans have made to the landscape. And among the tools they are using in the pursuit of this knowledge are a bunch of old tires.

Led by Maria Nieves Zedeño from the UA Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, the Kutoyis Archaeological Project is a four-year collaboration focused on prehistoric bison hunting societies in the Northern Great Plains. The project is funded by the National Park Service and the National Science Foundation.

"With help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Kutoyis project also incorporates a teaching element for members of American Indian tribes in Montana aiming to become cultural-resource technicians. The project exposes them to archaeological training and experiments that are rarely available outside of academic field schools," Zedeño said."

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New Technologies (and Tires) Reconstruct Ancient Bison Hunts (UA News 8/1)