Premium
Geoarchaeology of the Cooper site, northwest Oklahoma: Evidence for multiple Folsom bison kills
Author(s) -
Carter Brian J.,
Bement Leland C.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geoarchaeology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1520-6548
pISSN - 0883-6353
DOI - 10.1002/gea.10049
Subject(s) - alluvium , geology , archaeology , taphonomy , aeolian processes , paleontology , sequence (biology) , alluvial fan , sedimentary rock , geography , genetics , biology
Stratified bison kills are rare in Paleoindian contexts on the North American Plains. The Cooper site is a Southern Plains example of an arroyo utilized on three separate occasions by Folsom hunters to trap and kill bison. Geoarchaeological investigations of the Cooper site, including reconstructing the site setting, analyses of the soils and sediments, and detailed stratigraphic descriptions, were employed to characterize the arroyo fill sequence. Three bone beds were found in stratified, sandy loam alluvium beneath eolian fine sandy loam within a paleoarroyo. A buried soil with Btk and Bk horizons formed in the alluvium above the bone beds. The bones are associated with Cg horizons; hence, the bison remains decomposed in anaerobic conditions. Alluvial deposits separating the three bone beds ranged in thickness from 1 to 30 cm and were thickest down the axis of the paleoarroyo. Additional information on the sequence of events was gleaned from the position of a painted bison skull and the condition of the bones. Combined, these lines of evidence point to three kill events and suggest that between one and ten years elapsed between the kills. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.