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FOLSOM MAMMOTH HUNTERS? THE TERMINAL PLEISTOCENE ASSEMBLAGE FROM OWL CAVE (10BV30), WASDEN SITE, IDAHO

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 June 2017

L. Suzann Henrikson ,
David A. Byers ,
Robert M. Yohe II ,
Matthew M. DeCarlo  and
Gene L. Titmus
L. Suzann Henrikson*
Affiliation:
Idaho National Laboratory, 2525 North Fremont Ave. Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA
David A. Byers
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology, Old Main 245C, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322, USA
Robert M. Yohe II
Affiliation:
California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311, USA
Matthew M. DeCarlo
Affiliation:
California State University, Bakersfield, 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311, USA
Gene L. Titmus
Affiliation:
deceased
*
(l.henrikson@inl.gov, corresponding author)
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Abstract

The 1960s and 1970s excavations at Owl Cave (10BV30) recovered mammoth bone and Folsom-like points from the same strata, suggesting evidence for a post-Clovis mammoth kill. However, a synthesis of the excavation data was never published, and the locality has since been purged from the roster of sites with human/extinct megafauna associations. Here, we present dates on bone from the oldest stratum, review provenience data, conduct a bone-surface modification study, and present the results of a protein-residue analysis. Our study fails to make the case for mammoth hunting by Folsom peoples. Although two of the point fragments tested positive for horse or elephant protein, recent AMS dates indicate that all of the mammoth remains predate Folsom, and horse remains are absent from the Owl Cave collection. Further, no unambiguously cultural surface modifications were identified on any of the mammoth remains. Given the available data, the Owl Cave deposits are most parsimoniously read as containing a Folsom-age occupation in a buried context, the first of its kind in the desert West, but one nonetheless part of a palimpsest of terminal Pleistocene materials.

Durante excavaciones de Owl Cave (10BV30) en Idaho en las décadas de 1960 y 1970 fueron recuperados de los mismos estratos huesos de mamut y puntas de proyectil del estilo Folsom, sugiriendo que se tratara de un yacimiento matanza de mamuts de la era post-Clovis. Sin embargo, nunca se publicó una síntesis de los datos de la excavación y la localidad ha sido removida de la lista de sitios con evidencia de actividad humana asociada con megafauna extinta. Aquí presentamos el fechamiento de muestras de hueso del estrato más antiguo de la cueva, revisamos sus datos de procedencia, realizamos un estudio de la superficie de los huesos, y presentamos los resultados de un análisis de residuos proteicos. Nuestro estudio no logra comprobar la evidencia de cacería de mamut por la cultura Folsom. Aunque en dos de los fragmentos de proyectil se detectaron restos de proteína de caballo o elefante, fechados recientes por AMS indican que todos los restos de mamut preceden el yacimiento Folsom y no hay restos de caballo en la colección de Owl Cave. Además, no se identificó ninguna modificación de superficie de claro origen cultural en los restos de mamut. La interpretación más parsimoniosa de los datos disponibles es que los depósitos de Owl Cave contienen una ocupación de la época Folsom en un contexto enterrado, el primero de este tipo en el desierto del Oeste, pero que sin embargo es parte de un palimpsesto de materiales del Pleistoceno terminal.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 3 , July 2017 , pp. 574 - 592
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by the Society for American Archaeology 

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