The Implications of Fremont Pottery in Montana

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

A brief summary

This paper brings finds of rare evidence from archaeological excavations (the remarkable find of Fremont pottery in Montana) into a discussion about the identity of the authors of the Castle Gardens rock art style associated with the pottery finds. The paper draws on new ethnographic/linguistic research and revised radiocarbon dates to argue the case for and then conclude that ‘the Montana Fremont pottery is the product of the proto-Kiowa, and they are the most likely group to have made Castle Gardens style rock art shields.’

Being based outside of North America, I do not have expert knowledge of the material discussed in the paper. That said, the argument is logical and compelling. The argument presented introduces, at the very least, several nuances into what is currently and conventionally understood about the social groups in the Montana area from around AD 1350.

General concept comments

The hypothesis presented is testable in that further field research would either lend support to the argument or suggest some need for revision. There are, to the best of my knowledge, no issues with the methodology the authors used for dating.

Specific comments

Several typos and minor comments are noted in the attached pdf.

Some of the conventions used in the manuscript are odd, such as ‘Panel one’ and ‘Locality one’ rather than ‘Panel 1’ and ‘Locality 1’. There are also some inconsistencies: ‘Crow Indian’ is given both with and without quotations marks.

Indented quotations do not need quotation marks.

Years (1700s and 1800s) do not need apostrophes.

Switching Figures 6 and 7 around would mean that the figures would align better with the order in which details from these images are presented in the text.

The published version will benefit from higher resolution images.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Please see attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have made a FEW small comments on the MS itself. Two or three are typos.

The only comments of substance are the following:

1. I am not aware of the shield design showing a series of bear pawprints following a half-bear (or alternatively, a bear emerging from a den) across the face of the shield being found as Castle Gardens style heraldry (as is stated on page 2, lines 59-60. Possibly the authors know of such a Castle Gardens style shield that is not in the literature with which I am familiar. If so it should be cited here. If not this should be corrected.

2. In this same sentence, I think the article would be better if the authors changed "Bear claws" to "Bear pawprints" since that is what the design shows--even if the pawprints are highly stylized.

3. The discussion of the rod and slat armor worn by the figure decorating the shield shown in Figure 5 seems much weaker than all the rest of the arguments put forth in the article. Loendorf's own research (and my research following his lead) argues persuasively that Bighorn Basin warriors used rod and slat shields just prior to the Historic period, so rod and slat armor could have been found locally right at the time frame of these Castle Gardens shields. Likewise, the idea that a round head equates to a wooden helmet seems particularly weak, given the round heads, which are not seen as helmets, on the warriors carrying the shields. The authors' argument for Kiowa/Kiowa-Apache/Fremont origin for the Castle Gardens style really doesn't hinge on Athapaskan contacts with interior Salish groups, so this statement seems to be somewhat extraneous and its speculative nature detracts a bit from the otherwise relatively tightly focused argument. I would suggest they omit this speculation unless they have more compelling evidence.

Otherwise, I think this is a fine article, and one that sheds significant light on a well-known Montana rock art style. I just wish we had more Castle Gardens style shield heraldry among the Kiowa.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf