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Owl Cave Revisited: Examining the Evidence for a Folsom-Bison Association

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2025

L. Suzann Henrikson Open the ORCID record for L. Suzann Henrikson [Opens in a new window] ,
Joshua G. Clements ,
Shannon L. Loftus  and
Daron Duke
L. Suzann Henrikson*
Affiliation:
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA;
Joshua G. Clements
Affiliation:
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA;
Shannon L. Loftus
Affiliation:
Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID, USA;
Daron Duke*
Affiliation:
Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Desert Branch, Henderson NV, USA
*
Corresponding authors: L. Suzann Henrikson; Email: [email protected]; and Daron Duke; Email: [email protected]
Corresponding authors: L. Suzann Henrikson; Email: [email protected]; and Daron Duke; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The discovery of green-fractured mammoth bone in Owl Cave in the 1970s inspired the original investigators to focus primarily on the possible association between these remains and Folsom points recovered from the same stratum. With the Museum of Idaho's recent acquisition of the complete Owl Cave collection, we have gained a better understanding of the periglacial processes that appear to have displaced and mixed mammoth remains with a younger Folsom component. New efforts to date bison bone also recovered from the lowest levels of the cave have produced radiocarbon dates that fall within the accepted age range of Folsom technology. These results have prompted efforts to investigate the potential for an association between the lithic assemblage and bison, a scenario that is much more plausible given our current understanding of the Folsom archaeological record.

Resumen

Resumen

El descubrimiento de huesos de mamut con fracturas frescas en Owl Cave en los años 1970s instó a los investigadores originales a enfocarse principalmente en una asociación posible entre estos restos y puntos de proyectil Folsom encontrados en el mismo estrato. Con la adquisición reciente de la colección completa de Owl Cave por parte del Museo de Idaho, hemos ganado un mejor entendimiento de las condiciónes periglaciales que posiblemente desplazaron y mezclaron los restos óseos de mamut con el componente Folsom de menor antiguedad. Esfuerzos recientes para fechar restos óseos de bisonte también encontrados en los nivéles más profundos de la cueva han producido datacion por radiocarbono que corresponden de acuerdo al rango aceptado de antiguedad para la tecnología Folsom. Estos resultados han motivado esfuerzos para investigar el potencial para una asociación entre el conjunto lítico y bisonte, una situacion hipotética que es mucho más plausible dado nuestro entendimiento actual del record arquéologico Folsom.

Keywords

mammothFolsombisonOwl CaveIdahomamutFolsombisonteOwl CaveIdaho
Type
Report
Information
American Antiquity , First View , pp. 1 - 13
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for American Archaeology

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