This document announces a presentation by Tim Urbaniak about historic inscriptions found on rock surfaces throughout Montana. These inscriptions, ranging from precontact to contemporary, include names, dates, text and drawings carved or written directly on the landscape. They provide a continual record of regional history and reveal how individuals viewed their identity in a new cultural setting. Using technologies like 3D scanning, Urbaniak documents and studies these inscriptions to unravel their mysteries and significance to history. The presentation will take place on November 8 at the Museum of the Rockies.

1. The Extreme History Project Presents
Historic Inscriptions of the
With
Northern Plains
With MSU’s Tim Urbaniak
Where some see graffiti, others see an important historical
record in the random inscriptions on stone surfaces
throughout Montana. These inscriptions include names, dates,
commentary text and drawings which have been carved,
written and painted directly upon the geological formations
that comprise the landscape. These inscriptions cover a time
period ranging from precontact to contemporary and
represent a continual chronology of regional history. Often
messages are embedded in these inscriptions that reveal how
individuals viewed their identity while traveling in a new
cultural landscape, and how those identities shaped the
culture we know today. Using current techniques and
technologies, Tim Urbaniak documents and unravels the
mysteries of these inscriptions found throughout Montana and
the west.
Thursday, November 8
Museum of the Rockies
Hagar Auditorium
6:00 pm
For more than a decade, Tim Urbaniak has been leading projects that explore archaeology and history through applications of technology. As the
Director of the Montana State University Billings Archaeological Field Team, he has led students and volunteers in projects that have included 3D
reconstructions of historic sites, digital imaging applications, surveying technologies, desktop virtual reality, three-dimensional scanning,
photogrammetry and applications of multimedia. He is currently teaching in his 26th year at MSUB in the Drafting and Design Program and is also a
student in the University of Montana Historical Anthropology PhD program where he is studying historic inscriptions and their role as a form of
residual cultural communication.
The Extreme History Project
www.extremehistory.wordpress.com