The Little Bison Basin

PROBLEM

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The Little Bison River flows from small glaciers in the high cirques of the Rocky Mountains east to the Great Plains of North America, where it ultimately joins the Missouri system. The valley through the Rockies contains a few small towns which are supported by the ski industry and tourism. Recently, extensive natural gas deposits have been discovered in the area, and salvage archaeology projects have been funded to assess the nature of archaeological resources prior to the construction of pipelines, access roads, and well heads. You have been asked to summarize the prehistory of the area for a book on the local history of the resort town of Poplar, soon to celebrate its centennial. …show more content…

Bootheel's work is not yet complete, and her sites are not plotted in Figure 8.1.

GASVILLE INDUSTRIAL

PARK

Salvage Excavations

This site is located in the new town of Gasville. The site extends over at least 3000 square meters. The stratigraphy of a test excavation area is shown in Figure 8.2, and artifacts and animal bone in Table 8. L It is the longest sequence currently known for the region. Features fOW1dincluded pits and associated fire broken rock in levels 1 and 2, circles of stone thought to be tent rings in levels 2 and 4, and a hearth in level 3. The pits contained large quantities of highly fragmented large mammal bone.
BUD SITE

Located to the northwest ofLeafie , this site lies at the foot of a small cliff. Stratigraphy was not observed in the colluvial deposits, but two distinct occupation horizons were present. Bison remains constituted 99% and 98%

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THE NEXT ARCHAEOLOGY

WORKBOOK

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, • Bone 1100 + 70B.P. : .,' Bone 2430:+ 90 B.P.
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Bone 4100'+ 170 B.P. '

KEY Silt • Charcoal ~ Fire-broken rock • 14C sample

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Pit with comminuted bone

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Figure 8.2. Section through test excavation in the Gasville Industrial Park site. of the fauna in the upper and lower occupations, the remainder of the fauna consisting of wolves, coyotes, and mice. The faunal