Complementary approaches to the identification of bison processing for storage at the Kutoyis complex, Montana

Bethke, Brandi; Zedeño, María Nieves; Jones, Geoffrey; Pailes, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.05.028

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In this context, it is worth reiterating that changes in socioeconomic organization can drive abrupt, climate-independent fire regime changes (17,64,65). This appears to have occurred in our study area first with the transition to intensive, place-based bison procurement and pemmican processing for trade (35,66), followed by the adoption of the horse and transition to equestrian bison hunting (67). Although simple dichotomies between foragers and farmers may not be useful for interpreting human impacts on past fire regimes, closer attention to particular socioeconomic patterns and transitions may be useful for discriminating changes in human impacts on fire regimes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Test excavations (1 m × 1 m) were conducted at four bone bed sites associated with driveline complexes (Badger, Racine, Stranglewolf, Two Medicine/Schultz) to supplement the regional survey. Stratigraphic excavations at the Kutoyis bison bone bed and processing site revealed five thermal features (66) and at least three discrete layers of burned bison bone deposits. Bison bone, canid bone, charcoal, and blowfly pupae were radiocarbon-dated from the tested bone beds and stratigraphically from Kutoyis bone bed and processing features (SI Appendix, Table S1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium

Roos

Zedeño

Hollenback

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Fire use has played an important role in human evolution and subsequent dispersals across the globe, yet the relative importance of human activity and climate on fire regimes is controversial. This is particularly true for historical fire regimes of the Americas, where indigenous groups used fire for myriad reasons but paleofire records indicate strong climate-fire relationships. In North American grasslands, decadal-scale wet periods facilitated widespread fire activity because of the abundance of fuel promoted by pluvial episodes. In these settings, human impacts on fire regimes are assumed to be independent of climate, thereby diminishing the strength of climate-fire relationships. We used an offsite geoarchaeological approach to link terrestrial records of prairie fire activity with spatially related archaeological features (driveline complexes) used for intensive, communal bison hunting in north-central Montana. Radiocarbon-dated charcoal layers from alluvial and colluvial deposits associated with driveline complexes indicate that peak fire activity over the past millennium occurred coincident with the use of these features (ca. 1100-1650 CE). However, comparison of dated fire deposits with Palmer Drought Severity Index reconstructions reveal strong climate-fire linkages. More than half of all charcoal layers coincide with modest pluvial episodes, suggesting that fire use by indigenous hunters enhanced the effects of climate variability on prairie fire regimes. These results indicate that relatively small, mobile human populations can impact natural fire regimes, even in pyrogeographic settings in which climate exerts strong, top-down controls on fuels.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium

Roos

Zedeño

Hollenback

et al. 2018

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The notion that articular ends and other spongy elements become unidentifiable during the comminution process has been emphasized by several authors (e.g., Bethke 2018:887; Davis and Fisher 1990:264; Pillaert 1969:101; Prince 2007:18; Rood 1991:175; Vehik 1977:172; White 1954:256). Perhaps this view is best expressed in Binford's review of Nunamiut bone processing: In the case of bone grease and bone juice manufacture, there is an accompanying destruction of parts beyond recognition.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting Bone Grease Rendering in Highly Fragmented Assemblages

Morin

2020

Am. Antiq.

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Bone grease rendering is a low-return activity well described in the ethnohistorical and ethnographic literature. However, identifying this activity in archaeological contexts is complex because diagnostic criteria are few. The goals of this article are twofold: (1) to provide new experimental data on bone grease manufacture for assemblages associated with severe fragmentation, and (2) to assess how these data can be used to make stronger inferences about skeletal fat processing in the archaeological record. The results presented here show that, despite some variation, several forms of damage appear to be diagnostic of bone grease manufacture, regardless of the degree of fragmentation. The results indicate that extensive pounding produces many fragments that can be identified as deriving from articular ends, which conflicts with the oft-cited notion that articular ends are destroyed “beyond recognition” during this activity. Consequently, assemblages with few epiphyseal remains are not consistent with bone grease rendering, assuming that the comminuted fragments were not burned or discarded off-site after boiling. Because bone grease manufacture produces many small fragments, a close analysis of the indeterminate remains is strongly recommended, as is the use of fine mesh screens (2 mm or smaller) in excavations.

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“…The anthropogenic accumulation of faunal remains as a result of hominin waste disposal and storage behaviour (Stahlschmidt et al, 2015). The subaqueous storage of meat has been proven to be a good method for meat preservation as subaqueous environments have favourable conditions in which meat can be preserved for several months (Bethke et al, 2018;Fisher, 2009;Speth, 2017). c. Hominin butchering activities on a frozen lake surface (Stahlschmidt et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The site formation history of Schöningen 13II-4 (Germany): Testing different models of site formation by means of spatial analysis, spatial statistics and orientation analysis

Peters

Kolfschoten

2020

Journal of Archaeological Science

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The Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Pleistocene locality Sch€ oningen has been a focus of archaeological research for over two decades. The locality is best-known for the discovery of wooden spears in close association with numerous butchered remains of horses and other large mammals in the Spear Horizon (Sch€ o 13II-4), with an age of ca. 300 kyr. Several site formation models have been proposed to explain the faunal accumulation at the site: 1) single hunting event on a dried lake shore; 2) multiple hunting events in the soft mud of a lake shore; 3) deposition on an exposed delta plain; 4) geogenic displacement by hydrological processes; 5) hominin waste disposal and storage behaviour; and 6) hominin butchering activities on a frozen lake surface. Visual spatial analyses allow for the (subjective) incorporation of archaeological knowledge in the interpretation of spatial data, while spatial statistics allow for more objective and reproducible inferences about spatial patterns. The combination of the two could thus provide a vital tool in disentangling complex site formation processes. This study uses a combination of visual spatial analyses, spatial statistics and orientation analyses in order to further disentangle the site formation history of Sch€ o 13II-4 and to assess the impact of post-depositional processes on the faunal assemblage. This study revealed the existence of intra-site and inter-species differences in spatial distribution and orientation. The results of this study are compared to the suggested site formation models for Sch€ o 13II-4 to test which of these models is most parsimonious with the spatial distribution and orientation of the faunal assemblage. It is concluded that the previously proposed site formation models are overly simplified and cannot be used to explain the site formation history of Sch€ o 13II-4.

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Complementary approaches to the identification of bison processing for storage at the Kutoyis complex, Montana

Cited by 8 publications

References 30 publications

Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium

Indigenous impacts on North American Great Plains fire regimes of the past millennium

Revisiting Bone Grease Rendering in Highly Fragmented Assemblages

The site formation history of Schöningen 13II-4 (Germany): Testing different models of site formation by means of spatial analysis, spatial statistics and orientation analysis

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