Our Montana – Yellowstone River Rock Art

Used as a travel corridor for thousands of years, the Yellowstone River is an unofficial repository for cave art of travelers. The paintings and inscriptions that scatter the banks of the Yellowstone River hold a rich legacy of storytelling. As time erodes the art, it wipes away the historical memory of the picture or inscription.

To preserve this art, Our Montana used MHF funds to produce high-resolution, 3-D scans of 24 of the most at-risk paintings and inscriptions. These scans were made available for future research and archived to retain the images even if the original painting is lost to erosion.