Bison Procurement and Processing at a Complex Hunting Camp in the Columbia Plateau of Eastern Washington

Archaeological excavations conducted at 45GA17 in the Little Goose Dam Reservoir in 1966 and 1968 produced substantial evidence, dating circa 2,000 years B.P. for the procurement and processing of a minimum of eight modern bison (Bison bison). Other large mammals butchered at the site include elk, deer, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep. Most animal bones and associated lithic tools and debitage, including cobble implements and anvil stones, were recorded as features ranging in size from 1 to 8 m2. Discrete concentrations and the great abundance of chipping debris demonstrate considerable tool making activities at the site. Few skull, spinal, or pelvic bones of bison occur at the site. Butchering of the front and hind limbs of bison is consistent with sites elsewhere in the Southern Plateau where the bones of artiodactyls were broken on either side their articulations and the joint discarded. A primary objective of the 45GA17 investigations was to determine if the site was a Plains style bison kill site not previously identified in the Columbia Plateau of eastern Washington. Detailed assessment and comparison of the faunal assemblage, the associated lithic tools and debitage, and the recorded contexts all suggest that the excavations represent a complex hunting camp rather than a primary kill site.