The Application of Strontium Isotopes in Tracking Holocene Bison in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

Summary

This is an abstract from the "A Further Discussion on the Role of Archaeology in Resource and Public Land Management" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Light and heavy isotopic studies have become an integral tool in understanding the ecology of humans and vertebrates. In migration and mobility studies, strontium isotopes are used to determine if the individual is local to a particular area by comparing the isotopic values from bone and dental enamel of the specimen with local isotopic values that have been established for that specific geographic location. The local values of a specific place are determined by studying the underlying geology of a particular place. The GYE provides a unique research laboratory due to the number of distinct geologic substrates it contains. We should expect high-resolution 87Sr/86Sr variation in this mountainous area due to the complex juxtaposition of lithologies. In this paper, we discuss the role of strontium isotopes (87Sr/86Sr) in tracking bison from five locales ranging in age from the Early Holocene Horner site to Late Holocene bison from Jackson Hole and Idaho. A comparison of the archaeological specimens with modern Yellowstone National Park bison indicates significant shifts in range and range size. This has implications not only for understanding the predictability of this resource for precontact Native groups but also in managing bison herds in the context of climate change.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• A Further Discussion on the Role of Archaeology in Resource and Public Land Management   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37355.0