Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-pwrkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-12T17:32:50.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Carter/Kerr-McGee Paleoindian Site: Cultural Resource Management and Archaeological Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George C. Frison
George C. Frison*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

A decade of intensive archaeological survey of the Powder River Basin in Wyoming has revealed one stratified Paleoindian site along with several thousand sites of later age. This site is only a remnant of a much larger one. It has four cultural levels that include Clovis, Folsom, Agate Basin-Hell Gap, and Alberta-Cody respectively, with intervening sterile deposits. The site location and the taphonomics of the bone bed in the Alberta-Cody level suggest that the site was associated with the procurement of large animals. Interdisciplinary investigation of the site indicates that past geologic activity is largely responsible for the scarcity of Paleoindian sites in the basin. The history and basic philosophy of cultural resource management in this area are reviewed. Currently, land ownership is divided between federal and state agencies and private operators, such that the surface may be privately owned while the subsurface is federally owned. The argument is made for a future cultural resource management program for the Powder River Basin that is strongly oriented toward research in contrast to the present policy of inventory and avoidance of archaeological sites.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 288 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1984

References

References Cited

Agenbroad, Larry D. 1978 The Hudson-Meng Site: An Alberta Bison Kill Site in the Nebraska High Plains. University Press of America, Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Agogino, George A., and Galloway, Gene 1965 The Sister's Hill Site. A Hell Gap Site in North-Central Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist 10: 190–195.Google Scholar
Albanese, John 1982 Geologic Investigation of Agate Basin Site Area. In The Agate Basin Site: A Record of the Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains, edited by C. Frison, George and Stanford, Dennis J., pp. 309–330. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1962 Archaeology as Anthropology. American Antiquity 28: 217–225.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1976 Forty-seven Trips: A Case Study in the Character of some Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. In Contributions to Anthropology: The Interior Peoples of Northern Alaska, edited by Hall, E. S. Jr., pp. 299–351. National Museum of Man, Mercury Series Paper No. 49, National Museum of Canada. Ottawa.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1979 Organization and Formation Processes: Looking at Curated Technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35: 255–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1981 Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Bradley, Bruce A. 1982 Lithic Technology. In The Agate Basin Site: A Record of the Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains, edited by C. Frison, George and Stanford, Dennis J., pp. 181–208. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Clark, Gerald R., and Wilson, Michael 1981 The Ayers-Frazier Bison Trap (24PE30): A Late Middle Period Bison Kill on the Lower Yellowstone River. Archaeology in Montana 22: 23–77.Google Scholar
Figgins, Jesse D. 1927 The Antiquity of Man in America. Natural History 27: 229–239.Google Scholar
Fletcher, Alice C, and La Flesche, Francis 1906 The Omaha Tribe. Bureau of American Ethnology, Annual Report. No. 27. Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1967 The Piney Creek Sites. University of Wyoming Publications 33: 1–92. Laramie.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1968 Site 48SH312: An Early Middle Period Bison Kill in the Powder River Basin of Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist 13: 31–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, George C. 1971 The Buffalo Pound in Northwestern Plains Prehistory: Site 48CA302, Wyoming. American Antiquity 36: 77–91.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1973 Early Period Marginal Cultural Groups in Northern Wyoming. Plains Anthropologist 18: 300–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, George C. 1974 The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1976a Cultural Activity Associated with Prehistoric Mammoth Butchering and Processing. Science 194: 728–730.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1976b The Cultural Chronology of Paleoindian and Altithermal Period Groups in the Big Horn Basin, Wyoming. In Cultural Change and Continuity: Essays in Honor of James Bennett Griffin, edited by E. Cleland, Charles, pp. 147–173. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1978a Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1978b Animal Population Studies and Cultural Inference. In Bison Procurement and Utilization: A Symposium, edited by B. Davis, Leslie and Michael, Wilson, pp. 44–52. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 14. Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1982 Paleoindian Winter Subsistence Strategies on the High Plains. In Plains Indian Studies, A Collection of Essays in Honor of John E. Ewers and Waldo R. Wedel, edited by Ubelaker, D. and Viola, H., pp. 193–201. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology No. 30. Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, and Bradley, Bruce 1980 Folsom Tools and Technology at the Hanson Site, Wyoming. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, and Bradley, Bruce 1981 Fluting Folsom Points: Archaeological Evidence. Lithic Technology 10: 13–16.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, and Grey, Donald C. 1980 Pryor Stemmed: A Specialized Paleoindian Ecological Adaptation. Plains Anthropologist 25: 27–46.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, and Reher, Charles A. 1970 Age Determination of Buffalo by Teeth Eruption and Wear. In The Glenrock Buffalo Jump, 48CO304, by Frison, George C.. Plains Anthropologist Memoir No. 7, Appendix I. Topeka, Kansas Google Scholar
Frison, George C, and Stanford, Dennis J. 1982 The Agate Basin Site: A Record of Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, Walker, Danny N., Daniel Webb, S., and Zeimens, George M. 1978 Paleoindian Procurement of Camelops on the Northwestern Plains. Quaternary Research 10: 385–400.Google Scholar
Frison, George C, Wilson, Michael, and Wilson, Diane J. 1976 Fossil Bison and Artifacts from an Early Altithermal Period Arroyo Trap in Wyoming. American Antiquity 41: 28–57.Google Scholar
Fulgham, Tommy, and Stanford, Dennis J. 1982 The Frasca Site: A Preliminary Report. Southwestern Lore 48: 1–9.Google Scholar
Gilmore, Melvin R. 1924 Old Assiniboine Buffalo-Drive in North Dakota. Indian Notes 1: 204–211.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, Nancie L. 1983 “Science Is Sciencing.” Science 219: 345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance 1967 Carbon-14 Dates and Early Man in the New World. In Pleistocene Extinctions, edited by Martin, P. and Wright, H., pp. 267–286. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance Jr., and Grey, Donald C. 1965 The Sister's Hill Site and its Bearing on Wyoming Post-Glacial Alluvial Chronology. Plains Anthropologist 10: 196–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Husted, Wilfred M. 1969 Bighorn Canyon Archaeology. Smithsonian Institution, River Basin Surveys Publications in Salvage Archaeology No. 12. Washington, D. C.Google Scholar
Irwin, Henry T., and Wormington, H. Marie 1970 Paleoindian Tool Types in the Great Plains. American Antiquity 35: 24–34.Google Scholar
Irwin-Williams, Cynthia, Irwin, Henry, Agogino, George, and Vance Haynes, C. Jr. 1973 Hell Gap: Paleoindian Occupation on the High Plains. Plains Anthropologist 18: 40–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
jepsen, Glenn L. 1953 Ancient Buffalo Hunters of Northwestern Wyoming. Southwestern Lore 19: 19–25.Google Scholar
Johnson, Eileen 1980 Updating Comments on “Paleoindian Bison Procurement and Butchering Patterns on the Llano Estacado.” Plains Anthropologist 25: 83–85.Google Scholar
Johnson, Eileen, and Halliday, Vance 1980 A Plainview Kill/Butchering Locale on the Llano Estacado— The Lubbock Lake Site. Plains Anthropologist 25: 89–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, Eileen, and Halliday, Vance n. d. The Laddie Creek Site: A Continuous Human Occupation from Late Paleoindian to Historic in the Foothills of Northern Wyoming. Manuscript in preparation. Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Lorrain, Dessamae 1968 Analysis of the Bison Bones from Bonfire Shelter. In Bonfire Shelter: A Stratified Bison Kill Site, Val Verde County, Texas, edited by S. Dibble, David and Dessamae, Lorraine, pp. 77–132. Texas Memorial Museum, Miscellaneous Paper No. 1. Austin.Google Scholar
Mandelbaum, David G. 1940 The Plains Cree. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 37: 155–316. New York.Google Scholar
Miller, Mark E. 1976 Communal Bison Procurement during the Middle Plains Archaic. A Comparative Study. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Moss, John H., in collaboration with Kirk, Bryan, Holmes, G. William, Linton, Satterthwaite Jr., Hansen, Henry P., Schultz, C. Bertrand, and Frankforter, W. D. 1951 Early Man in the Eden Valley. University of Pennsylvania, Museum Monographs No. 6. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Reher, Charles A. 1970 Population Dynamics of the Glenrockfiuow bison Population. In The Glenrock Buffalo Jump, 48CO304, by Frison, George C.. Plains Anthropologist Memoir No. 7, Appendix II. Topeka, Kansas.Google Scholar
Reher, Charles A. 1973 The Wardell Bison bison Sample: Population Dynamics and Archaeological Interpretation. In The Wardell Buffalo Trap 48SU301: Communal Procurement in the Upper Green River Basin, Wyoming, by Frison, George C., Appendix II. University of Michigan, Anthropological Papers No. 48, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Reher, Charles A. 1974 Population Study of the Casper Site Bison. In The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains, edited by C. Frison, George, pp. 113–124. Academic Press, New York.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. Lincoln, Nebraska.Google Scholar
Reider, Richard G. 1980 Late Pleistocene and Holocene Soils of the CKM Archaeological Site, Powder River Basin, Wyoming. Catena 7: 301–315.Google Scholar
Reider, Richard G. 1982a Soil Development and Paleoenvironments of the Agate Basin Archaeological Site Locality, Eastern Wyoming. In The Agate Basin Site: A Record of the Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains, edited by Frison, G. C. and Stanford, D., pp. 331–348. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Reider, Richard G. 1982b The Soil of Clovis Age at the Sheaman Archaeological Site, Eastern Wyoming. University of Wyoming, Contributions to Geology 29: 195–200. Laramie, Wyoming.Google Scholar
Reiss, David, Shaw, Leslie, Eckles, David, and Hauff, Jeff 1980 Final Report of Archaeological Investigations of Kerr-McGee Coal Corporation East Gillette Mine Permit Area, Campbell County, Wyoming. Manuscript on file at the Office of State Archeologist. Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Walker, Danny N. 1982 The Early Holocene Vertebrate Fauna. In The Agate Basin Site: A Record of the Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains, edited by Frison, G. C. and Stanford, D., pp. 274–308. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Wheat, Joe Ben 1972 The Olsen-Chubbuck Site: A Paleoindian Bison Kill. Society for American Archaeology, Memoir No. 26.Google Scholar
White, Leslie A. 1938 Science is Sciencing. Philosophy of Science 5: 369–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, Michael 1978 Archaeological Kill Site Populations and the Holocene Evolution of the Genus Bison. In Bison Procurement and Utilization, edited by Davis, L. and Wilson, M., pp. 9–22. Plains Anthropologist Memoir 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wormington, H. Marie 1957 Ancient Man in North America. Denver Museum of Natural History, Popular Series No. 4.Google Scholar
Wormington, H. Marie, and G. Forbis, Richard 1965 An Introduction to the Archaeology of Alberta, Canada. Denver Museum of Natural History, Proceedings No. 11.Google Scholar
Zeimens, George M., and Zeimens, Sandy 1974 Volumes of Bison Astragali. In The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains, edited by C. Frison, George, Appendix I. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar