Apart from the road running through it, the valley probably looks much as it did 30 centuries ago, when someone chipped away at this small piece of black glassy stone until it was lethally sharp and symmetrical, then fastened it to a straightened shaft of wood and hurled it at bison with a spear-throwing tool, or atlatl. AMERICAN NOMADS: TRAVELS WITH LOST CONQUISTADORS, MOUNTAIN MEN, COWBOYS, INDIANS, HOBOES, TRUCKERS, AND BULLRIDERS By Richard Grant Excellent Condition. A thin wet snow is falling in late June, and a few scattered bison are grazing in the sagebrush across the river. We’re standing on a rise near the Yellowstone River, or the Elk River as most Native American tribes called it. American Nomads: Travels with Lost Conquistadors, Mountain Men, Cowboys, Indians, Hoboes, and Bullriders. He grew up in London, England, and now lives in Jackson, Mississippi. He currently writes for Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Al Jazeera America, the Telegraph UK, Aeon and several other publications. AMERICAN NOMADS is the extraordinary result. Eight years in the making, American Nomads is a ninety minute documentary film written and hosted by Richard Grant, and inspired by his book American Nomads (Ghost Riders UK). Motivated partly by his own wanderlust and partly by his realisation that America is a land populated by wanderers, he set out to test his theory. “Like us, Native Americans liked to camp on flat ground, close to water, with a beautiful view.” Richard Grant is an author, journalist and television host. Richard Grant has never spent more than twenty-two consecutive nights under the same roof. “Pretty much anywhere you’d want to pitch a tent, there are artefacts,” he says, holding up a 3,000-year-old obsidian projectile point that his team has just dug out of the ground.

After 14 summers excavating in Yellowstone National Park, Doug MacDonald has a simple rule of thumb.

American nomads by richard grant