Approximately a year ago, Joe Nonnast brought his collection of artifacts to the Northern Hills Chapter meeting to share with the other members. The age of two of the points was not unanimously agreed upon, being characteristic of both the Early Plains Archaic side notched and much later side notched points of the Late Prehistoric (Figure 1). The majority swayed the minority and it was agreed that they were made approximately 5,000 to 7,000 years before present. What made them even more interesting was that Joe indicated that the site was near the Jump Off region of Harding County, SD, and a large quantity of bison bone was present at the site. The possibility of an Early Archaic bison kill site was far too tempting not to investigate further, so the following year we visited the site (Figure 2).
The initial visit consisted of a brief survey of the area, at which time very friable bone was observed eroding from a sand deposit on the south (right) bank of of the creek which drains the valley. Brushing away some of the sand, we observed that the unexposed bone was in a good state of preservation. The nature of the sand deposits was not clear at the time but did suggest that it could be the remains of a sand dune in which bison may have been driven, trapped, and ultimately dispatched, since no evidence of a jump or other means of trapping were apparent.
We didn't need any more encouragement and, with visions of the Casper site in mind, we took off for the site early this September with members of the Northern Hills Chapter of the SDAS and local residents of the area to excavate a series of test excavations to determine the nature of the site. Very quickly we learned three important factors regarding the site. The sediments in which the bone was located was stream transported, indicating that there was no sand dune; second is that the deposits are late Holocene, probably dating around A.D. 200 (based on other excavations in the county); and lastly, that you don't open up five test units in a bison kill site hoping to excavate them in a weekend. Two other weekend trips followed, and we have completed the excavation of two of the five units and are in the process of finishing up the other three (Figures 3 and 4).
While the data recovered certainly changes our initial views, it doesn't take away from the significance of the site. In fact, it is quite the opposite. The point types we can now assume are of a variety known as Besant, or Besant/Sonota. Populations using these points appear in the western High Plains sometime around A.D. 100 - 200. To the east, along the Missouri River, sites of this period are expressed primarily by their mortuary activities with the presence of burial mounds and habitation sites referred to primarily as Sonota (Neuman 1975). To the west of the Missouri River the sites are generally temporary camps and bison procurement sites and are referred to as Besant (Wettlaufer 1955). These populations brought many new innovations to the plains, including the earliest ceramic industry in the region, exchange networks in exotic goods, and limited plant domestication. They also devised or brought with them, one of the most sophisticated bison procurement strategies known. This method involved the driving of bison into corrals or pens to trap and dispatch the animals. To be successful, a population must have a good working knowledge of the habits of bison when being driven or trapped, as well as a very effective work force to build the corrals. Sites of this nature have been identified in Wyoming and may play a large part in the excavation strategies and research questions we will attempt to answer with future investigations at this site.
The site is situated in terrace fill near the floor of the Graves Creek valley, an intermittent tributary of the South Fork Grand River, in central Buffalo County, South Dakota. The immediate area is characterized by a nearly level flood plain approximately 130 m wide with a gently sloping erosional surface leading up to the base of the stream terraces. The terraces range in height from approximately 1 m at the kill site to as much as 3 m. The lower terraces are late Holocene in age and include sediments of sand near the base with sequential deposits of sand and silt underlying a layer of clay. This is usually mantled with a thin veneer (10 - 30 cm) of loose, sandy silt loam, a product of colluvial/alluvial and aolean processes. The higher terraces consist of Late Cretaceous age sediments mantled by the same veneer of sediments observed in the late Holocene terraces.
Geologic conditions are the primary cause for exposure of the site. Large seasonal extremes in temperature and rainfall have a dramatic effect on the water table and vegetation, which in turn will strongly effect the processes of erosion. This is certainly the case at the Licking Bison site. At the time of occupation, the alluvial deposits of the site were aggrading, resulting in burial of the site under more than 1.5 m of sediment. Following this period of aggradation, the cycle changed to one of degradation, as it is today, with continued removal of sediments from the valley floor causing further exposure of the bone bed.
The current investigations concentrated on salvaging portions of the site exposed at the base of the terrace scarp. A total of eleven units were gridded, and five of these are in various stages of completion. The single cultural level was excavated as one level. As each artifact or bone was found, either on the surface or in the excavation, it was assigned a sequential artifact number and mapped vertically and horizontally.
The majority of the artifacts have been bison bone. The bone is in differential states of preservation depending on the location of the bone to the surface. One of the units showed evidence of weathering not observed in other units. The bone in this unit had been re-exhumed at an earlier date and subsequently reburied. Some of the bone has been burned, and large portions of individual animals are still articulated. Based on the limited investigations conducted at the site and in the lab so far, there are adult, juvenile, and possibly infant specimens represented in the assemblage.
Other artifacts recovered include resharpening flakes, small biface fragments, and limited amounts of charcoal at one location at the base of the bone bed. The Research Center and the Northern Hills Chapter will be returning to the site next summer or fall to continue investigations.
| Neuman, Robert W. | ||
| 1975 | The Sonota Complex and Associated Sites on the Northern Great Plains. Nebraska State Historical Society Publications in Anthropology No. 6. | |
| Wettlaufer, Boyd | ||
| 1955 | The Mortlach site in the Besant Valley of Central Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Museum of Natural History, Anthropological Series No. 1. | |
