Book: Homeland

Ever wondered why Indian arrowheads are shaped the way they are? Or how ancient containers were made out of animal stomachs? Then look no further than Larry Lahren’s Homeland: An Archaeologist’s View of Yellowstone Country’s Past (Cayuse Press, $30). Make no mistake, this book isn’t a casual read. It’s full of tables and charts detailing the morphology of arrowheads, the stratigraphy of archeological dig sites, and diagrams of stone features and settlement layouts. But once you dive into this tomb of knowledge, you’ll quickly become engrossed—as I was by the chapter in which Lahren’s buddy, Doug Campbell, tests different Clovis-style points to kill bison on his ranch. The guy even arrowed a bull elk with a flint point—you can see the photo on page 72. Lahren’s book represents a lifetime of knowledge, and we’d be all be wise to take note and learn a thing or two of our areas past history.