Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

NUMBER 30 195
and late Archaic periods, our present data for the
Paleo-Indian period argue for late fall and winter
bison killing based on taphonomic studies of bison
kill sites. If these data are correct, Paleo-Indian
winter subsistence strategies differed from those
of the late prehistoric and late Archaic periods.
Enough investigations of High Plains bison kill
sites have now been done to propose some testable
hypotheses.
The Source of Data
Archeological sites with high visibility on the
High Plains are those related to animal procurement
(Figure 33). Bison kills dominate the archeological
record from Paleo-Indian times until
these animals nearly disappeared in the late nineteenth
century. Other animals failed to run even
a close second in terms of quantity of meat products,
except possibly the mammoth during the
FIGURE 33.—Kill sites on the northwestern and central Plains
with seasonal determinations of animal procurement (1 =
Horner, 2 = Colby, 3 = Big Goose Creek, 4 = Piney Creek,
5 = Carter-Kerr McGee, 6 = Hawken, 7 = Wardell, 8 =
Casper, 9 = Glenrock, 10 = Agate Basin, 11 = Hudson-
Meng, 12 = Jones-Miller, 13 = Olsen-Chubbuck)
Clovis time period. Many bison procurement locations
were closely associated with stream and
arroyo systems that provided topographic features
favorable for the trapping and killing of
bison. Subsequent geological events regularly
covered the remains and provided good in situ
preservation. It is unlikely, however, that the lack
of proper topographic features precluded bison
trapping. Corrals and fences of a highly sophisticated
nature were present on the High Plains in
the late Archaic period (Prison, 1971), and similar
structures were almost certainly within the capabilities
of the Paleo-Indian.
Geologic events have often operated contrary
to the wishes of archeologists. Many periods of
erosion and deposition have occurred since Clovis
times. As argued by Albanese (1978) with good
supporting evidence, there have been major
changes in the topography of the High Plains in
the past 11,000-12,000 years, particularly along
drainages. Lateral and vertical cutting of streams
have removed a large share of the total number
of archeological sites and, since Paleo-Indian sites
have been around the longest, their chances of
survival are the least. Other sites are effectively
concealed through deposition to the extent that
their chances of being discovered either accidentally
or through more acceptable practices of
predictive models are also low.
Sand dune areas were also favored for past
human activity. Large herbivores were attracted
to sandy areas because of unique conditions of
feed and water. Sand dunes also provided favorable
topographic features for trapping animals
(Prison, 1974:21-25). Dune fields are also probably
the most susceptible of all landforms to destruction.
Sandy areas may be stabilized over
long periods of time, but even short periods of
drought may initiate wind transport with subsequent
loss of context of archeological materials
and destruction of faunal materials. As a result,
we are limited to a small and biased sample of
Paleo-Indian sites. However, some patterned behavior
is emerging from the sites that are known.
Of particular interest are some definite ideas on
a Paleo-Indian winter survival strategy that differ