TOOL PRODUCTION, SUBSISTENCE, OR PRACTICE: AN INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN MODIFIED BISON PHALANGES PRESENT AT THE BULL CREEK AND CLARY RANCH SITES

Summary

The Clary Ranch site in Southwestern Nebraska and the Bull Creek site in Northwestern Oklahoma are Late-Paleoindian camps that were used for processing the meat and bones from bison hunts. This is an experimental archaeological investigation involving Clary Ranch and Bull Creek, both of which contain evidence of spiral fracturing on bison phalanges resulting from the butchering and preparation process. This archaeological experiment investigates possible motives Paleoindian hunters would have for breaking the small, dense, and low-yield marrow bison phalanges at these two sites. The hypothesized reasoning behind this anomalous butchering practice is threefold; perhaps the use of the broken phalanges for bone tool production, a possible addition to the Paleoindian subsistence strategy, or the practicing of spiral fractures for the later butchering of higher yield areas. The results are consistent with the idea of marrow extraction over spiral fracture practice and bone tool production.

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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