Locating story in place: The intersection of cultural landscapes and archaeology on the Northwestern Plains

Archaeology in North America occurs in a settler-colonial context, wherein a significant discrepancy exists between Western and Indigenous concepts of cultural heritage. Through examination of the Blackfoot cultural landscape, with its embedded places and stories, alongside the archaeological record of the Northwestern Plains, we attempt to address this gap between archaeology as historically practiced and the descendant community’s experience. Using a series of case studies from the Blackfoot homeland, we demonstrate how viewing archaeological sites within their broader landscape context can identify intangible cultural heritage, foster cultural connection, and reclaim places for descendant communities, ultimately contributing to reconciliation. These outcomes are particularly valuable to Indigenous descendant communities today, as rematriation efforts expand the return of cultural heritage beyond ancestral remains and belongings. We argue that through archaeology, Blackfoot communities can repatriate landscapes by re-establishing the stories and named places traditionally embedded across the landscape.