the Risley Bison Kill:West-Central Montana

Abstract

The Risley Bison Jump, a large kill site approximately 50 miles west of Great Falls, Montana, was test excavated in 1974. The badly vandalized site was scheduled to be destroyed by land subdivision.Even though the site was badly disturbed, our excavations show that the site was a well-used bison jump with at least four usages evident. Processing and butchering areas were located along the margins of the kill middens. Side-notched projectilepoints recovered from the site suggest that it dates from the latter part of the Late Prehistoric Period.     

Ceramics From the Highwalker Site: a Study of Late Prehistoric Period Cultural Systematics on the Northwestern Plains

Abstract

The Highwalker site is a two component prehistoric encampment located in the Pine Parklands region of southeastern Montana. The Late Prehistoric period occupation represents a briefly used, special purpose site occupied by a Native American group primarily engaged in the final butchering of bison and the processing of its by-products. Two radiocarbon samples date the Late Prehistoric period occupation between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1100. Ceramics recovered from this component shed some light on the debate concerning “Crow Pottery” and Late Prehistoric period cultural systematics. The ceramics represent the earliest known representatives of a localized Powder River Basin pottery tradition which appears to be related to Extended Middle Missouri Tradition ceramics. These nomadic Powder River Basin ceramic-using groups maintained contact with the Middle Missouri village farmers and were influenced by their pottery technology. Later when the ethnographically known Crow moved into the area, the Powder River Basin hunting groups either were amalgamated into Crow society or were driven from the area.     

Acknowledgements

Abstract

The Vore Site is a Late Prehistoric buffalo jump in the Red Valley of the Wyoming Black Hills. Stratified middens of butchered Bison bone are found from about 1.2 to 3.7 meters in depth, in the bottom of a large pseudokartst sink. Up to 22 separate middens were revealed where separation between levels was best, and these represent an unusually detailed and well-preserved record of buffalo jumping in the Black Hills region. Typological evidence, radiocarbon dates and preliminary correlation of varved sediments and tree-ring series indicate that the site was used between A.D. 1500 and 1800. Two seasons of intensive work resulted in only a 5-10% sample of the site deposits.     

The AvonLea Point

Abstract

The authors define a readily distinguished type of small, triangular, side-rotched projectile point previously assigned to the Late Prehistoric Period of the northwestern Plains but which was thought too generalized to be used in studies of cultural and ethnic affiliation.

Type sites are described, geographical distributions made, and factors considered which may have influenced the development of this point type in southwestern Saskatchewan.

It is concluded that the Avonlea point is sufficiently unique and temporally delimited to serve as a useful marker for the early Late Prehistoric Period in the northwestern Plains.     

Daugherty Cave,Wyoming

Abstract

Daugherty Cave is a double component site in the Big Horn Basin of northern Wyoming. The earlier level is representative of a widespread Late Middle Prehistoric Period occupation. The surface material is believed to represent the Late Prehistoric Period, Crow Indian occupation of the area. The site produced considerable amounts of perishable material.     

Buffalo Migrations In The Canadian Plains

Abstract

This paper examines the seasonal movements of buffalo in the Canadian Plains during the furtrade period. Using the primary accounts of fur traders and missionaries, it demonstrates thata regular migration into the parkland in winter, and back onto the prairie in spring and summer, was characteristic of buffalo movements in the region. The migration into the parkland in winter was initiated by the need for shelter. The specific temporal and spatial manifestations ofthis general movement, however, were conditioned from year to year by a variety of factors whose effects were largely predictable to both the aboriginal and non-aboriginal residents of the region. Most important among these factors were winter mild spells, heavy snow, hunting pressures and fires.     

A Late Prehistoric Bundle Burial From Southern Wyomingc

Abstract

A Late Prehistoric bundle burial from the Stone Fence Site in south-central Wyoming produced partial skeletal remains of a middle-aged male of Shoshonean biological affinities.A total of 19 bone beads were found in the grave. Both osteological and cultural interpretations were possible from the previously undisturbed grave and its contents.     

Burned Rock Midden Sites on the Southwestern Edge of the Edwards Plateau,Texas

Abstract

Data from two groups of burned rock midden sites are presented. Occupation of the sites seems to have been heaviest during Archaic times, with some Late Prehistoric and possible Paleo-Indian components also recognized. A burial is described from one site. Problems pertaining to burned rock midden sites are briefly discussed.     

Cherokee Mountain Rock Shelter

Abstract

Cherokee Mountain Rock Shelter is south of Denver, in Douglas County, Colorado, and overlooks Plum Creek near the small town of Sedalia. The shelter was formed in a sandstone conglomerate in an area of high bluffs and gently rolling hills. Three intermixed levels were excavated, with artifacts from each dating from the Late Prehistoric Period. A few sherds, suggestive of a Shoshonean occupation, were in the top two levels.     

Avonlea Point Occurrence in Northern Montana and Canada

Abstract

This report is a follow up of the 1961 Kehoe-McCorquodale presentation in the Plains Anthrdpqlogist of the Avonlea point as a horizon marker for the Late Prehistoric Periood in the Northwestern Plains, Montana Avonlea data are discussed, compared and combined with Canadian data to develop an expanded picture of regional Avonlea “culture”. A critique of the kehoe-McCorquodale generalizations reinforces essential hypothesis and further clarifies Avonlea spatial and temporal parameters.     

Seasonal Economic and Settlement Patterns of the Arikara

Abstract

That the Arikara were characterized by seasonal economic activities accompanied by varying settlement patterns during the Late Prehistoric and EarlyContact Periods is amply documented in the archaeological records and journals of the first explorers of the Missouri Valley. In spite of the abundant data, however, several aspects of the seasonal changes of economic and settlement patterns still remain subjects of speculation. Since there seems to have been so much regional and time variation in these patterns the observations presented in this report should be considered tentative.     

The Murray Site: a Late Prehistoric Game Drive System in the Colorado Rocky Mountains

Abstract

The Murray site (5 BL 65) “is a tundra game drive near the summit of Mount Albion, Boulder County, Colorado. Rock walls and lines of cairns at the site were used in driving large grazing animals from a broad saddle onto a narrow ridgecrest, where they were killed from ambush by hunters concealed in shallow, rock-rimmed pits. Geological, lichenometric, and radiocarbon dating show that the walls and pits were constructed between about 950 and 1000 yr. BP. Initial use of the system was by people related to the Hog Back Phase (Nelson 1971), who wintered in the Front Range foothills, and who hunted north and south along the continental divide in summer and fall. The site was later modified and re-used by an unidentified Late Prehistoric complex.     

Two Mummies From The Pitchfork Rock Shelter In Northwestern Wyoming

Abstract

A protohistoric rock shelter burial from the Pitchfork Site in northwestern Wyoming produced two partially mummified skeletons of young adult male American Indians. Preserved clothing, buffalorobes, trade goods and additional cultural items were present. Equally well preserved is the twisted and braided scalp hair of one mummy, andother bodily tissues sufficiently preserved to reveal forms of cultural modification and ornamentation. Osteological analysis of the specimens reveals patterns of physical characteristics typical of Late Prehistoric and protohistoric populations of the northwestern Plains.     

Virginia Deer and the Buffer Zone in the Late Prehistoric-Early Protohistoric Periods In Minnesota

Abstract

Hickerson has proposed the existence of an unoccupied buffer zone in Minnesota and Wisconsin, between the Chippewa and the Dakota, in the period 1780 to 1850. He suggests that the shape and character of the unoccupied region relates to the distribution and density of Virginia Deer populations which became a contested resource.

This paper attempts to statistically test the possibility that an unoccupied buffer zone did exist in Minnesota during the Late Prehistoric and Protohistoric periods from about A. D. 1200 to A. D. 1800, and that site distributions for this period seem to substantiate the existence of such a zone.     

The Late Prehistoric Human Ecology of Birch Creek Valley,Northeastern Oklahoma

Abstract

A multi-disciplinary study of the archaeological sites in Birch Creek Valley examined the valley’s paleoenvironment, prehistoric economy, and demography. The study indicates that during the Plains Village Period (ca. A.D. 800-1,500) the local environment was stable and similar to that of the area today with the valley being occupied during the late summer through winter by dispersed groups containing from 10 to 15 people. The Late Prehistoric occupants of the valley apparently relied on a broad-spectrum foraging economy and did not engage in horticulture.     

T-W-DIamond,a Stone Ring Site in Northern Colorado

Abstract

The T-W-Diamond Site, 4LR200, is a large teepee ring village on the? edge of the High Plains in northern Colorado. Seventeen out of the 47 remaining stone ring areas were excavated or tested by the Colorado State University Archae-ological Field School in 1971. Artifacts, fire hearths and midden materials were scarce but indicated the domestic nature of the structures. Stone and ceramic artifacts indicate cultural affiliations with the Late Prehistoric period as reported at Birdshead Cave, and the Piney Creek sites in Wyoming; and at the Agate Bluff Rock Shelters, and the Dipper Gap site in northern Colorado. Carbon-14 dates of A. D. 1020±230 years and A.D. 1170±220 years support the time of the occupation. A third date of A.D. 400±340 seems improbably early. It is hypothesized that the village was occupied seasonally for a short time by a small group of people, perhaps of Shoshonean affiliation, exploiting a mixedbase subsistence economy.     

Purification of Monomeric Prolactin Charge Isoform from Buffalo Pituitaries

Abstract

A standard protocol for isolation of buffalo prolactin (buPRL) was modified at the alcohol precipitation step. This modification could separate lower molecular weight prolactin from the higher molecular weight prolactin (PRL). Reloading the prolactin onto a Sephacryl S‐200 gel purified the buPRL monomer. The purity of buPRL monomer was confirmed by 15% SDS PAGE. The buPRL monomer was >90% pure. It was characterized by specific anti‐buPRL serum in ELISA and Western blot. A native PAGE of the PRL showed three charge isoforms. A protocol was standardized to separate prolactin monomeric least acidic isoforms using an anion exchanger.     

Molecular Cloning and Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Detection of Buffalo DGAT1 Gene

We report molecular cloning and single nucleotide polymorphism detection of the buffalo DGAT1 gene. Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT1) is considered the key enzyme in controlling the rate of synthesis of triglycerides. The DGAT1 gene was recently identified as a strong functional candidate gene affecting milk yield and composition in cattle. A full-length buffalo DGAT1 genomic DNA was amplified by iterative PCR based on homolog cloning. The buffalo DGAT1 gene comprises 17 exons and spans approximately 8.3 kb. The genomic structures of DGAT1 are highly conserved among mammal species. The deduced protein of buffalo DGAT1 contains 489 amino acids, showing high-sequence similarity with mammal homologs. Through PCR-SSCP analysis and sequencing, seven polymorphic positions were detected in the complete genomic region of buffalo DGAT1, and their frequencies were observed from a collection of 117 buffalo. The SNP (C/T) detected at position 11785 in exon 17 creates a substitution change for the amino acid sequence, resulting in an Ala residue (GCG) transition to a Val residue (GTG) in position 484 of buffalo DGAT1 protein. Information provided in this study will be useful in further studies to determine the role DGAT1 plays in the regulation of milk fat synthesis and quality improvement for milk in buffalo. Jing Yuan and Jun Zhou contributed equally to this work.     

The Rock Art Of Western Montana

Abstract

Western Montana rock art comprises 29 pictograph sites scattered throughout the mountainousPacific-drained portion of the state. The sites, composed of panels of simple red, yellow or black pictographs, cluster along the major streams in the region. A variety of zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and geometric designs predominate. Traditionally Western Montana rock art has beenassumed to be related to the rock art of the Northwestern Plains, however, this study demonstrates that functionally and stylistically its closest relationships are with Columbia Plateau rock art. Two style zones, each reflecting a different cultural influence, are recognized in theregion. The majority of sites apparently served as vision quest sites for Salishan tribes that inhabited the area during the Late Prehistoric Period. A few sites in the extreme southern portion of the region are attributed to Shoshoneans, and relate most closely to the pictographsof central and southern Idaho.