Bison Killsites and Carnivore Utilization: A Discussion of Prehistoric Human Impacts to Scavenging Carnivores and the Implications for Conservation Management

Summary

Zooarchaeologists have commonly employed analyses concerning only site formation processes when studying carnivore modification and utilization to North American faunal assemblages. Yet, such processes are rarely discussed beyond descriptions of the presence of tooth marks or overall percentages of elements with modifications. Additionally, limited discussion has occurred with regards to the implications of these data on how humans and carnivores interacted in the past. In this paper, I address this deficit with the results of a study in which I analyzed eight bison bonebeds from Wyoming and Colorado for degree of carnivore utilization and identification of the carnivores responsible for utilization. These data are discussed in the context of human-carnivore relationships to explore how understanding the degree of carnivore utilization in zooarchaeological assemblages can assist with creating a holistic perspective on the connections between humans and the environment for future applications to conservation management.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• From Taphonomy to Human Ecology: Papers in Honor of Gary Haynes   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage