Editing Billings, Montana (section)

===Prehistory===
The downtown core and much of the rest of Billings is in the Yellowstone Valley, a canyon carved out by the [[Yellowstone River]]. Around 80 million years ago, the Billings area was on the shore of the [[Western Interior Seaway]]. The sea deposited sediment and sand around the shoreline. As the sea retreated, it left a deep layer of sand. Over millions of years, this sand was compressed into stone known as [[Eagle Sandstone]]. Over the last million years the river has carved its way down through this stone to form the canyon walls known as the Billings [[Rimrocks]] or the Rims.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Shores of an Ancient Sea...|url=http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/docs/roadsigns/ShoreAncientSea.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130324024110/http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/docs/roadsigns/ShoreAncientSea.pdf |archive-date=2013-03-24 |url-status=live|publisher=Montana Department of Transportation|access-date=March 27, 2013}}</ref>

The [[Pictograph Cave (Billings, Montana)|Pictograph Caves]] are about five miles south of downtown. These caves contain over 100 [[Pictogram|pictographs]] (rock paintings), the oldest of which is over 2,000 years old. Approximately 30,000 artifacts (including stone tools and weapons) have been excavated from the site.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pictograph Cave State Park|url=http://stateparks.mt.gov/pictograph-cave/|publisher=Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks|access-date=February 26, 2013}}</ref> These excavations have proven the area has been occupied since at least 2600 BC until after AD 1800.<ref>{{cite web|title=Pictograph Cave |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=307&ResourceType=Site |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=February 26, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905013208/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=307&ResourceType=Site |archive-date=2012-09-05}}</ref>

The [[Crow Indians]] have called the Billings area home since about 1700. The present-day [[Crow Nation]] is just south of Billings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crowtribe.com/ |title=Official Website of the Crow Tribe - Aps?alooke Nation Executive Branch |access-date=January 31, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130131021713/http://www.crowtribe.com/ |archive-date=January 31, 2013  }}</ref>