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Late-Quaternary diminution and abundance of prehistoric bison (Bison sp.) in eastern washington State, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

R. Lee Lyman
R. Lee Lyman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 107 Swallow Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
*
*Fax: (573)884-5450. E-mail address:lymanr@missouri.edu.
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Abstract

Bison (Bison spp.) occurred in eastern Washington state during the late Quaternary. This area is considered to be peripheral to the center of this taxon's natural range. Bison in the plains east of the Rocky Mountains, the heart of this range, underwent diminution during the late Quaternary, and apparently also did so in other, peripheral areas. A ratio diagram of measurement data derived from eight zooarchaeological collections of bison remains recovered from eastern Washington, in combination with the presence of both sexes and all age classes of individuals, indicate that local bison may have also undergone diminution there. There are, however, a relative paucity of bison remains during the middle Holocene and an apparent 2000-year absence of bison from eastern Washington at this time. As a result, the hypothesis that bison became smaller elsewhere and then immigrated to eastern Washington cannot be falsified. Both the diminution and the fluctuating abundance of bison appear to be responses to forage quality and quantity.

Keywords

Bison sp.DiminutionEastern Washington stateForage quality and quantityNorth American bisonRatio diagram
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , July 2004 , pp. 76 - 85
Copyright
University of Washington

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