Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:45:40.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bison Jump Location is Primarily Predicted by Minimizing Visibility at the Wold Site, Johnson County, Wyoming

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Brigid S. Grund ,
Spencer R. Pelton ,
Todd A. Surovell ,
Neffra A. Matthews  and
Tommy A. Noble
Brigid S. Grund*
Affiliation:
University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department 3431, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071
Spencer R. Pelton*
Affiliation:
University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department 3431, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071
Todd A. Surovell*
Affiliation:
University of Wyoming, Anthropology Department 3431, 1000 E. University Ave., Laramie, WY 82071
Neffra A. Matthews*
Affiliation:
Geospatial Analysis Section, National Operations Center, Bureau of Land Management, Denver Federal Center Bldg. 50, P.O. Box 25047, OC-534, Denver, CO 80225
Tommy A. Noble
Affiliation:
Geospatial Analysis Section, National Operations Center, Bureau of Land Management, Denver Federal Center Bldg. 50, P.O. Box 25047, OC-534, Denver, CO 80225
*
(bgrund@uwyo.edu[corresponding author], spencerpelton@gmail.com, surovell@uwyo.edu)
(bgrund@uwyo.edu[corresponding author], spencerpelton@gmail.com, surovell@uwyo.edu)
(bgrund@uwyo.edu[corresponding author], spencerpelton@gmail.com, surovell@uwyo.edu)
(n1matthe@blm.gov)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Wold Bison Jump (48JO966) is a communal bison (Bison bison) hunting site in Johnson County, Wyoming. It likely represents a single kill event precipitated by Great Plains foragers between A.D. 1433 and 1643. Operating the jump required that prehistoric hunters drive stampeding bison up a steep slope in order to position them within a V-shaped drive line configured to funnel them toward a cliff. Using iterative models of least cost paths, topographic cross-sections, and visibility analysis, we test which landscape-embedded variables are optimized at the jump site as compared to other potential localities across the study area. We find that this site’s placement is primarily explained by minimizing the distance at which the cliff face is visible and secondarily by minimizing the cost of slope and curvature routes ascending into the drive lines. Our procedure could hypothetically be used to predict optimal jump locations on similar landscapes.

Wold Bison Jump (48JO966) es un sitio de caza comunal de bisontes (Bison bison) localizado en el distrito de Johnson, Wyoming. Este probablemente representa un único evento de caza por despeñamiento generado por cazadores-recolectores de las Grandes Planicies, entre 1433 y 1643 d.C. Llevar a cabo el despeñamiento requirió que los cazadores prehistóricos condujeran la estampida de los bisontes hacia una pendiente empinada, con el fin de posicionarlos dentro de una línea de conducción en forma de V configurada para canalizarlos hacia un acantilado. Utilizando modelos interactivos sobre rutas de menor costo, secciones topográficas transversales y análisis de visibilidad, testeamos cuáles de las variables incluidas en el paisaje son optimizadas en sitio de despeñamiento, en comparación con otras localidades potenciales a lo largo del área de estudio. Encontramos que la localización de este sitio se explica principalmente por la minimización de la distancia a la que la pared del acantilado es visible y, en segundo lugar, por la reducción del costo de las rutas de pendiente y curvatura que ascienden dentro de las líneas de conducción. Nuestro procedimiento podría ser utilizado hipotéticamente para predecir localizaciones óptimas de despeñamiento sobre paisajes similares.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 4 , October 2016 , pp. 752 - 763
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Albanese, John, Darlington, Allen, Eckerle, William, and Francis, Julie 1985 48JO966: A New Bison Jump Site from the East Flank of the Bighorn Mountains, Johnson County, Wyoming. Paper presented at the 43rd Plains Conference, Iowa City, Iowa.Google Scholar
Brink, Jack 2008 Imagining Head-Smashed-In: Aboriginal Buffalo Hunting on the Northern Plains. Athabasca University Press, Athabasca.Google Scholar
Bruggeman, Jason E., Garrott, Robert A., White, P. J., Watson, Fred G. R., and Wallen, Rick W. 2007 Covariates Affecting Spatial Variability in Bison Travel Behavior in Yellowstone National Park. Ecological Applications 17(5):1411–1423.Google Scholar
Bruggeman, Jason E., Garrott, Robert A., White, P. J., Watson, Fred G. R., and Wallen, Rick W. 2008 Effects of Snow and Landscape Attributes on Bison Winter Travel Patterns and Habitat Use. In The Ecology of Large Mammals in Central Yellowstone: Sixteen Years of Integrated Field Studies, edited by Garrott, Robert A. and White, P. J., pp. 623–627. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Burk, C. A., and Thomas, Horace D. 1956 The Goose Egg Formation (Permo-Triassic) of Eastern Wyoming. Geological Survey of Wyoming Report of Investigations No. 6. University of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Byerly, Ryan M., Cooper, Judith R., Meltzer, David J., Hill, Matthew E., and LaBelle, Jason M. 2005 On Bonfire Shelter (Texas) as a Paleoindian Bison Jump: An Assessment Using GIS and Zooarchaeology. American Antiquity 70:595–629.Google Scholar
Byerly, Ryan M., Cooper, Judith R., Meltzer, David J., Hill, Matthew E., and LaBelle, Jason M. 2007 A Further Assessment of Paleoindian Site-use at Bonfire Shelter. American Antiquity 72:373–381.Google Scholar
Carlson, Kristen 2011 Prehistoric Bison Procurement: Human Agency and Drive Lane Topography on the Northwestern Plains. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff.Google Scholar
Cooper, Judith Rose 2008 Bison Hunting and Late Prehistoric Human Subsistence Economies in the Great Plains. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.Google Scholar
Dibble, David S. 1970 On the Significance of Additional Radiocarbon Dates from Bonfire Shelter, Texas. Plains Anthropologist 15:251–254.Google Scholar
Dibble, David S., and Lorrain, Dessamae H. 1968 Bonfire Shelter: A Stratified Bison Kill Site, Val Verde County, Texas. Miscellaneous Papers No. 1. TexasMemorial Museum Publications, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1970 The Glenrock Buffalo Jump, 48CO304: Late Prehistoric Period Buffalo Procurement and Butchering on the Northwestern Plains. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 7.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1971 The Kobold Site, 24BH406: A Post-Altithermal Record of Buffalo-Jumping for the Northwestern Plains. Plains Anthropologist 15:1–35.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1973 The Wardell Buffalo Trap 48 SU 301: Communal Procurement in the Upper Green River Basin, Wyoming. Anthropological Papers No. 48. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1976 Crow Pottery in Northern Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist 21:29–44.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1980 The Crow Occupation of the High Plains: The Archaeological Evidence. Archaeology in Montana, Special Issue No. 1:3–16.Google Scholar
Guenther, Marissa Anne 2014 The Owl Cave Mass Kill: Examining the Evidence for an Early Holocene Communal Bison Drive in Southeastern Idaho Using GIS. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Bakersfield.Google Scholar
Halloran, Arthur F. 1960 American Bison Weights and Measurements from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science 41:212–218.Google Scholar
Matthews, Neffra A., Noble, Tommy A., and Breithaupt, Brent H. 2016 Close-range Photogrammetry for 3D Ichnology: The Basics of Photogrammetric Ichnology. In Dinosaur Tracks: The Next Steps, edited by Falkingham, Peter, Marty, Daniel, and Richter, Annette. Indiana University Press, Bloomington, in press.Google Scholar
Nieves-Zedeño, Maria, Ballenger, Jesse A. M., and Murray, John R. 2014 Landscape Engineering and Organizational Complexity among Late Prehistoric Bison Hunters of the Northwestern Plains. Current Anthropology 55:23–58.Google Scholar
Pelton, Spencer R. 2015 Wold Bison Jump, Johnson County, Wyoming. National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination Form. Manuscript on file, Wyoming State Historic Preser vation Office, Laramie.Google Scholar
Polk, Michael R. 1979 Bison Jump Sites in the Northwestern Plains of North America: A Locational Analysis. Unpublished Mas ter’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, Lansing.Google Scholar
Reeves, Brian O. K. 1978 Head-smashed-in: 5500 Years of Bison Jumping in the Alberta Plains. Plains Anthropologist 23(82):151–174, Memoir 14, Part 2.Google Scholar
Reher, Charles A., and Frison, George C. 1980 The Vore Site, 48CK302, a Stratified Buffalo Jump in the Wyoming Black Hills. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 16.Google Scholar
Reimer, Paula J., Bard, Edouard, Bayliss, Alex, Beck, J. Warren, Blackwell, Paul G., Ramsey, Christopher Bronk, Buck, Caitlin E., Cheng, Hai, Edwards, R. Lawrence, Friedrich, Michael, Grootes, Pieter M., Guilderson, Thomas P., Haflidason, Haflidi, Hajdas, Irka, Hatté, Christine, Heaton, Timothy J., Hoffmann, Dirk L., Hogg, Alan G., Hughen, Konrad A., Kaiser, K. Felix, Kromer, Bernd, Manning, Sturt W., Niu, Mu, Reimer, Ron W., Richards, David A., Scott, E. Marian, Southon, John R., Staff, Richard A., Turney, Christian S. M., and Plicht, Johannes van der 2013 IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves -50,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55:1869–1887.Google Scholar
Witkind, Max 1971 Archaeological Interpretation of the Roberts Buffalo Jump Site, Larimer County, Colorado. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins.Google Scholar