An Early Historic Period Horse Skeleton from Southwestern Wyoming

Summary

During archaeological monitoring of highway construction at site 48SW8319 in 1991, the remains of a single modern horse, Equus caballus, were uncovered by heavy construction equipment. The site is located next to the Blacks Fork River in Sweetwater County. The site lies in the Green River geomorphic basin (also known as the Bridger Basin) of southwestern Wyoming, on the east side of the Blacks Fork River near the head of Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Gravel deposits are present in the terrace and probably date to the Pleistocene Period. The bedrock exposed on the surface of the higher terraces consists of the Laney Member sandstones and shales of the Eocene age Green River Formation. Site 48SW8319, as a whole, contains a variety of prehistoric remains. These include hearth features and possible buried components dating to the late Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods, and surface materials related to the historic ranching period of the early 20th century (Waitkus 1990). There were no surface or subsurface indications of any early historic period artifacts, features or components found during the survey or test excavations at this site in 1990 and 1991.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Wyoming Archaeologist 1994

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Contact(s): Marcia Peterson

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