9 The Bone Bed(Lam)

Extract

The Bone Bed was composed of the skeletons, parts of skeletons, and isolated bones, of about 190 bison (Fig. 1). During our excavations, we recorded a total of 143 skulls. While Olsen and Chubbuck kept no record during their excavations, they estimate that they found about 50 skulls, a figure which appears reasonable in view of the volume they dug and the area in which their excavations were centered. Hence the suggested total of about 190 animals.

Five hundred three bone units were recorded during our 2 seasons of excavation at the Olsen-Chubbuck site (Table 1). A proportionate number of units must also have occurred in that part of the site dug by Olsen and Chubbuck, so that, using the ratio estimated above, somewhere near 670 units probably comprised the total bone bed.

As previously explained (see Recording), each articulated skeleton or segment of a skeleton was recorded as a single unit. In addition, skulls were also recorded as units. We did this because, from early in our first season of excavation, we believed that most, if not all, such articulated segments represented those parts that had been cut off by the Indians during the butchering. That is to say, that the Indians followed a fairly standard procedure in cutting up a bison, and that when the meat had been removed, the bones were discarded, still held together by sinews. We believed that an analysis of such units would provide direct information on the butchering techniques of the Indians, on the selection of choice parts, and perhaps on the use made of the parts. To a large extent, these hypotheses have been validated.