Tipi rings are circular patterns of stones left from an encampment of Post-Archaic,

protohistoric Protohistory is a period between prehistory and history during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing, but other cultures have already noted the existence of those pre-literate groups in their own writings. For example, ...

and

historic History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

Native Americans.Cassells, Steve. (1997). ''The Archaeology of Colorado.'' Boulder: Johnson Books. pp. 224-227. . They are found primarily throughout the Plains of the United States and Canada, and also in the foothills and parks of the Rocky Mountains. Clusters of stones circles are often found in favorable camp-sites, near water, fuel and good hunting grounds. In many cases the clusters are organized in patterns, such as rows, circles or v-shapes. The stones were used to hold down the tipis to keep the lodge warm and dry. In some cases elaborate walls or defensive structures were built.

Tipi ring practices

They are generally found in the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, but are also found in the foothills and mountains, near good areas for hunting, supplies of water and fuel, and main routes of travel. The rings are often in diameter and often occur in groupings. The rings of stone held down the edges of animal skin hides of the cone-shaped tipis, to keep them snug against the ground. The general pattern of a tipi (also "tepee") ring is an east-facing entrance, where there are no stones, and a heavily anchored side with extra stones for protection against prevailing winds, often on the northwestern side of the ring. Hearths found in the center of tipi rings suggest a winter encampment. In the summer, food was cooked in open-air hearths. There are generally few artifacts found at these sites. Stone circles, of which tipi rings are an example, may be simply assembled rocks placed in single or multiple courses. More elaborate circles have been constructed in walls of stone or with horizontal logs and stone, possibly for a fort or corral. Other stone circlessome more than across – may be the remains of special ceremonial dance structures. A few cobble arrangements form the outlines of human figures, most of them clearly male. Perhaps the most intriguing cobble constructions, however, are the ones known as

medicine wheels To some indigenous peoples of North America, the medicine wheel is a metaphor for a variety of spiritual concepts. A medicine wheel may also be a stone monument that illustrates this metaphor. Historically, most medicine wheels follow the basic ...

. Tipi rings are nearly all of the types of stone circles, except those that are medicine wheels or of very small diameter.''What is a Medicine Wheel?''
Royal Alberta Museum, Government of Alberta. Retrieved December 8, 2011. Stones were replaced by wooden pegs to hold down the tents after the introduction of axes by people of European ancestry. In the

Crow language Crow ( native name: ''Apsáalooke'' ) is a Missouri Valley Siouan language spoken primarily by the Crow Nation in present-day southeastern Montana. The word, ''Apsáalooke,'' translates to "children of the raven." It is one of the larger popul ...

the word for precolonial times literally means "when we used stones to weigh down our lodges."

Blackfeet Indian Reservation study

From a study of 137 sites on the 2,000 square mile Blackfeet Indian Reservation, tipis were often arranged in a pattern, such as a single or double row, semi-circle, circle, triangle, V-shape or a haphazard shape. p. 4 of pdf. Artifacts found were limited to tools or fragments of tools made of stone or bone, such as broken

projectile point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have ...

s, hammerstones, grooved mauls and pieces of flint or imported obsidian. When horses were introduced after about A.D. 1730, camp materials were pulled by horses rather than dogs and the tipis became larger, from holding 6-8 people to up to 50 people. pp. 4-7 of pdf.

Sites

;Canada *Alberta: In 1989 there were 4,290 tipi rings recorded in the provincial inventory of archaeological sites (slightly more than 20% of all sites in the inventory). **

Carmangay Carmangay ( ) is a village in southern Alberta, Canada. It is located north of Lethbridge and south of Calgary, along the Canadian Pacific Railway, east of Highway 23. It takes its name from C.W. Carman, who bought at $3.50 per acre to grow ...

Tipi Ring Site **

Nose Hill Park Nose Hill Park is a natural park in the northwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta which covers over . It is the fourth-largest urban park in Canada, and one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is a municipal park, unlike Fish Creek, w ...

** Suffield Tipi Rings National Historical Site ** Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park *Saskatchewan **

Grasslands National Park Grasslands National Park (French: ') is a Canadian national park located near the village of Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and one of 44 national parks and park reserves in Canada's national park system (though one of only two in Saskatchewan it ...

Wanuskewin Heritage Park Wanuskewin Heritage Park is an archaeological site and non-profit cultural and historical centre of the First Nations just outside the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The faculty's name comes from the Cree language word ᐋᐧᓇᐢᑫᐃ ...

;United States Between Green River, Wyoming and

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, a long corridor, there are 136 tipi ring sites. * Colorado: :During the protohistoric and historic periods, tipi rings were created in the mountains by the

Ute people Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries un ...

. Sites on the plains belonged to

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño a ...

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho ba ...

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

and Comanche people. :* Northern mountain and foothills: :** Indian Mountain near

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

:** T-W Diamond site in the Rocky Mountain foothills near

Fort Collins A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. :* Northeastern plains :** Biscuit Hill Site (78 - 100 tipi rings) :** Keota Stone Circles Archaeological District :* Southeastern plains :** Carrizo Ranches (possibly

sites) :** Picture Canyon of the Comanche National Grassland. * Montana: ** Blackfeet Indian Reservation has 210 tipi ring sites over a 2000 square mile area. p. 2 of pdf.. ** Canyon Ferry Reservoir area has 16 tipi ring sites within a 500 square mile area, found along the Missouri River or its tributaries or mountain valleys. ** First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park * Texas: ** Squawteat Peak (see

Pecos County Pecos County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 15,193. The county seat is Fort Stockton. The county was created in 1871 and organized in 1875.. By Glenn Justice and John Leffler. Retri ...

) * Wyoming: ** Basin Oil Field Tipi Rings **

Shoshone National Forest Shoshone National Forest ( ) is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States ...

References

External links

Images of Tipi Ring remains
{{Indigenous People of CO Native American history of Colorado Post-Archaic period in North America Prehistoric cultures in Colorado Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains Ring