Multidisciplinary Investigations of a Late Paleoindian Bison Butchery Event from a Southwest Texas Rockshelter

Summary

Located in the Northeastern Chihuahuan Desert, Eagle Cave is one of the largest rockshelters in the Lower Pecos Canyonlands. Archaeologists previously excavated Eagle Cave in the 1930s and 1960s; however, no evidence had been recovered indicating Paleoindian occupation of the site. From January 2015 through February 2017, the Ancient Southwest Texas Project of Texas State University re-excavated a 4-meter deep trench through the center of this massive rockshelter in order to document and sample the complex stratigraphy. A primary research objective was to investigate the potential for Paleoindian-age deposits. During the 2016 field season we excavated into deposits older than 8500 RCYBP, and immediately exposed a scattering of fractured, cut, and burned bison bones. Among the bones were chipped stone debitage, lithic tools, decomposing plant remains, and a surface hearth containing charred bone, ash, and charcoal. Based on preliminary analyses and radiocarbon dates, this entire assemblage dates to older than 10,250 cal BP, and represents the secondary butchering and processing of a single Bison antiquus. This poster summarizes the ongoing spatial, faunal, macrobotanical, geoarchaeological, chronometric, and lithic analyses being conducted on this unique Late Paleoindian assemblage.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20214