Paleoindian Intercept Hunting in the Bethel Locality, Western Oklahoma

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The narrow divide between the Canadian and Washita rivers in west central Oklahoma is the location of multiple historic transportation routes. The Rock Island Railroad, U.S. Highway 66 and Interstate Highway 40 all parallel the route of the early historic California Road. These routes followed a game trail which was a focus for prehistoric hunting. Prominent buttes provide overlooks while spring-fed and wooded canyons offered protected camping and hunting opportunities. This combination of landscape features along the narrow Bethel divide made the locality ideal for pedestrian bison hunting. We argue that this locality was used intensively from early prehistory through the contact period for intercept bison hunting. Here we summarize the Paleoindian evidence representing a wide variety of point types and including more than 500 specimens. Point types and lithic materials in the Bethel locality are documented as are typological classification challenges for this sample.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24418