Hostname: page-component-5d84bcc8dc-6bbg5 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-09-06T09:53:34.393Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bison Procurement in the Far West: A 2,100-Year-Old Kill Site on the Columbia Plateau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James C. Chatters ,
Sarah K. Campbell ,
Grant D. Smith  and
Phillip E. Minthorn Jr.
James C. Chatters
Affiliation:
Applied Paleoscience, 648 Saint Street, Richland, WA 99352
Sarah K. Campbell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225
Grant D. Smith
Affiliation:
Laramie Soil Systems, P.O. Box 255, Laramie, WY 82070 99164
Phillip E. Minthorn Jr.
Affiliation:
Repatriation Office, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bison bones are found in Columbia Plateau archaeological sites from throughout the Holocene, yet no information on people's tactics for procuring them has yet been reported. The discovery of the Tsulim Site, a 2,100-year-old bison kill near the Columbia River in central Washington, has provided the opportunity to investigate those tactics. Despite the deteriorated state of the evidence, analysis of stone artifacts, faunal remains, and site geology revealed that at least eight animals were killed in the apex of a parabolic dune during the early to mid-winter by hunters using both atlatl and bow. Local topography and meteorology make it most likely that the herd was encountered in a low paleochannel, driven northward between the limbs of the dune, up the steep channel wall, and into the kill area, a sort of inverted buffalo jump. Results not only illuminate the large-game hunting practices of the Plateau peoples, but also point out how much can be learned from disturbed, low-density scatters of debris that are often dismissed as insignificant.

Existen huesos de bisonte en sitios arqueológicos localizados en la Meseta Columbia que datan del Holoceno, sin embargo, aún no se ha reportado información sobre la tácticas de procuramiento de bisonte. El descubrimiento del Sitio Tsulim, un sitio de matanza de bisonte de 2,100 años de antiguedad, cerca del Río Columbia en Washington central, provee la oportunidad de investigar esas tácticas. A pesar de que la evidencia está muy deteriorada, el análisis de artefactos de piedra, restos de fauna, y geología del sitio revelaron que al menos ocho animates fueron procesados por cazadores de arco y atlalt en la cumbre de una duna parabólica durante la primera parte del invierno. La topografia local y la meteorología sugieren que los cazadores encontraron a la manada en un paleocanal bajo y la empujaron hacia el norte entre los brazos de la duna, hacia la pared escarpada del canal, y hacia el área de matanza o salto invertido. Los resultados no solamente iluminan las prácticas de cacería de fauna mayor en la Meseta, pero también indican cuánto se puede aprender de depósitos disturbados con baja densidad de desechos que generalmente son ignorados por insignificantes.

Information

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 60 , Issue 4 , October 1995 , pp. 751 - 763
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

References Cited

Agenbroad, L. D. 1978 Buffalo Jump Complexes in Owyhee County, Idaho. Plains Anthropologist 23 : 213–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brauner, D. R. 1976 Alpowai : The Culture History of the Alpowa Locality. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Bryan, A. L. 1955 Excavations at Meyer Caves in Eastern Washington. Davidson Journal of Anthropology 1(1) : 11–20.Google Scholar
Butler, B. R. 1978 Bison Hunting in the Desert West before 1800 : The Paleoecological Potential and the Archaeological Reality. Plains Anthropologist 23 : 106–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chatters, J. C. 1987 Shell of Margaritifera falcata as a Source of Paleoenvironmental and Cultural Data. In Archaeological Investigations at Lake Briton, California, edited by Kelly, M. S., Nilsson, E., and Cleland, J. H., Appendix F. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Chatters, J. C. 1990 A Nondestructive Technique for Measuring Growth Increments in Freshwater Bivalves and Its Archaeological and Paleoecological Applications. Paper presented at the Sixth International Congress of Archaeozoologists, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D. C.Google Scholar
Daugherty, R. D. 1956 Archaeology of the Lind Coulee Site, Washington. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 100 : 223–278.Google Scholar
Davis, L. D., and Wilson, M. (editors) 1978 Bison Procurement and Utilization : A Symposium. Plains Anthropologist Memoir No. 14. The Plains Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Fawcett, W. B. 1987 Communal Hunts, Human Aggregations, Social Variation, and Climatic Change : Bison Utilization by Prehistoric Inhabitants of the Great Plains. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. 1974 The Casper Site : A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. 1978 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C, and Reher, C. A. 1970 Age Determination in Buffalo by Tooth Eruption and Wear. In The Glenrock Buffalo Jump, 45CO304, edited by Frison, G. C., Appendix I. Plains Anthropologist No. Memoir 7. The Plains Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Fryxell, R. 1972 The Archaeology of Ford Island : Section II. Geologic Examination of the Ford Island Archaeological Site. Report of Investigations No. 11, Section II. Laboratory of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Galm, J. R., Hartmann, G. D., Masten, R. A., and Stephenson, G. O. 1981 A Cultural Resources Overview of Bonneville Power Administration's Mid-Columbia Project, Central Washington. Reports in Archaeology and History 100-16. Eastern Washington University, Cheney.Google Scholar
Glantz, C. S., Schwartz, M. N., Burk, K. W., Kasper, R. B., Ligotke, M. W., and Perrault, P. J. 1990 Climatological Summary of Wind and Temperature Data for the Hanford Meteorology Monitoring Network. No. PNL-7471. National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gustafson, C. E. 1972 Faunal Remains from the Marmes Rockshelter and Related Archaeological Sites in the Columbia Basin. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Harkins, S. K. 1980 The Prehistoric Occurrence and Aboriginal Utilization o/Bison sp. in the Central Columbia Basin. Unpublished Master's thesis. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Irwin, A. M., and Moody, U. 1978 The Lind Coulee Site (45GR97). Washington Archaeological Research Center Project Report No. 56. Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Kehoe, T. F. 1967 The Boarding School Bison Drive Site. Plains Anthropologist Memoir No. 4. The Plains Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Kyle, J. H. 1986 Effect of Post-Burial Contamination on the Concentrations of Major and Minor Elements in Human Bones and Teeth— The Implications for Paleodietary Research. Journal of Archaeological Science 13 : 403–416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonhardy, F. C, and Rice, D. G. 1970 A Proposed Culture Typology for the Lower Snake River Region, Southeastern Washington. Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 4 : 1–29.Google Scholar
Livingston, S. D. 1985 Summary of Faunal Data. In Summary of Results, Chief Joseph Dam Cultural Resources Project, Washington, edited by Campbell, S. K., pp. 149–178. Office of Public Archaeology, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Lohse, E. S. 1985 Rufus Woods Lake Projectile Point Chronology. In Summary of Results, Chief Joseph Dam Cultural Resources Project, Washington, edited by Campbell, S. K., pp. 317–364. Office of Public Archaeology, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1976 A Cultural Analysis of Faunal Remains from the Alpowa Locality. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L. 1985 The Paleozoology of the Avey's Orchard Site. In Avey 's Orchard : Archaeological Investigation of a Late Prehistoric Columbia River Community, edited by Galm, J. F. and Masten, R. A., pp. 243–320. Reports in Archaeology and History 100-42, Eastern Washington University, Cheney.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. L., and Livingston, S. D. 1983 Late Quaternary Mammalian Zoogeography of Eastern Washington. Quaternary Research 20 : 360–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miss, C. J. 1984 Archaeological Investigations at Site 45-DO-285, Chief Joseph Dam Project, Washington. Office of Public Archaeology, University of Washington, Seattle.Google Scholar
Morgan, V 1993 Cultural Resource Investigations at 45AD104, an Upland Bison Site, Adams County, Washington. Reports in Archaeology and History 100-81, Eastern Washington University, Cheney.Google Scholar
Parmalee, P. W, and Klippel, W. 1974 Freshwater Mussels as a Prehistoric Food Source. American Antiquity 39 : 241–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reher, C. A. 1974 Population Study of the Casper Site Bison. In The Casper Site : A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains, edited by Frison, G. C., pp. 113–124. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Reher, C. A., and Frison, G. C. 1980 The Vore Site, 48CK392, A Stratified Buffalo Jump in the Wyoming Black Hills. Plains Anthropologist No. Memoir 16. The Plains Conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
RickardW H., , Rogers, L. E., Vaughan, B. E., and Liebetrau, S. F. (editors) 1988 Shrub-Steppe : Balance and Change in a Semi-Arid Terrestrial Ecosystem. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Robbins, W. G., and Hartmann, G. D. 1978 A Cultural Resource Survey of Six Tracts in the Quincy Irrigation District, Grant County, Washington. Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, Corvallis.Google Scholar
Schalk, R. E, and Olson, D. L. 1983 Archaeological Testing of the Prehistoric Site at Lyons Ferry. In Cultural Resource Investigations for the Lyons Ferry Fish Hatchery Project, near Lyons Ferry, Washington, edited by Schalk, R. F., pp. 141–178. Project Report No. 8. Laboratory of Archaeology and History, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Schroedl, G. F. 1973 The Archaeological Occurrence of Bison in the Southern Plateau. Laboratory of Anthropology Report of Investigations No. 51. Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Pearson, G. W. 1986 High Precision Calibration of the Radiocarbon Time Scale, A. D. 1950-500 B. C. Radiocarbon 28 : 805–838.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, D. H. 1978 Arrowheads and Atlatl Darts : How the Stones Got the Shaft. American Antiquity 43 : 461–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Vuren, D. 1987 Bison West of the Rocky Mountains : An Alternative Explanation. Northwest Science 61 : 65–69.Google Scholar
Wilson, M. 1974 The Casper Local Fauna and Its Fossil Bison. In The Casper Site : A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains, edited by Frison, G. C., pp. 125–171. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Yent, M. 1976 The Cultural Sequence at Wawawai (45WT39) , Lower Snake River Region, Southeast Washington. Unpublished Master's thesis. Department of Anthropology, Washington State University, Pullman.Google Scholar