The Burning Question: A Study in Bison Dung Fuel Representation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This study sets out to determine the applicability of using fecal spherulites and coprophilous fungal spores (CFS) as tracers for bison dung fuel use within the archaeological record. Modern bison dung and surrounding sediments were collected from the Konza Prairie Biological Reserve (KPBS) and analyzed for fecal spherulites and CFS. Following collection, the bison dung samples were subject to controlled burning, with data collected from the fire and associated firing zone. This process was repeated with a wood-fueled fire to establish a comparative basis for the differentiation between these fuels and to examine the potential recovery of fecal spherulites and CFS in post-fired contexts. It is hoped that this study will clarify that both fecal spherulites and CFS will not only be useful tracers for dung-fuel utilization, but further establish a baseline for understanding the spatial patterning of these remains within archaeological contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53929