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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
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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.

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

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