New Investigations into a Late Paleoindian Bison Kill and Terminal Pleistocene Environmental Change at Blackwater Draw Locality 1

Summary

Intensive investigation of an area of Blackwater Draw Locality 1 known as "Isequilla’s Pit" has revealed a well-preserved stratigraphic sequence and the remains of a Late Paleoindian-age bison kill. The work constitutes a resumption of excavation in this area of the South Bank, as Alberto Isequilla abruptly abandoned his fieldwork in 1969, leaving behind an open excavation pit and few field records. Over the past 6 years, the ENMU Archaeological Field School has successfully relocated and mapped Alberto Isequilla’s excavation grid, and carried out excavations of Unit E (Carbonaceous silt/Late Paleoindian) and Unit D (Diatomite/Folsom) sediments. Both stratigraphic units contain faunal remains and sparse cultural material, but the concentration of bison remains in Unit E appears to represent a portion of an extensive Late Paleoindian (presumably Cody) bison kill. Paleoenvironmental investigations indicate that this kill was made near the outlet channel of a prehistoric body of water that was in transition from a Younger Dryas-age freshwater pond to an increasingly alkaline early Holocene marsh. This paper presents the results of an integrated series of archaeological, faunal, geomorphic, and paleoenvironmental investigations, and attempts shed additional light on a relatively poorly known time period in the Southwest and Southern High Plains.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage