THE OWL CAVE MASS KILL: EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLY HOLOCENE COMMUNAL BISON DRIVE IN SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO USING GIS By Marissa Anne Guenther A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Anthropology California State University Bakersfield In Partial Fulfillment for the Degree of Masters of Arts March 2014 Copyright By Marissa Anne Guenther 2014 THE OWL CAVE MASS KILL: EXAM1MNG THE EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLY HOLOCENE COMMUNAL BISON DRIVE IN SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO USING GIS By MARISSA ANNE GUENTHER This thesis has been accepted on behalf of the Department of Anthropology by their supervisory committee: Committee Chair Ió r. L. Suza~i H~iks~4 Brenda R. Pace In Memory of My Grandfather, Harrison CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Marissa Anne Guenther PLACE OF BIRTH: Portland, Oregon DATE OF BIRTH: November 19, 1982 GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: California State University, Bakersfield, California University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, Anthropology, March 2014, California State University, Bakersfield Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology, June 2005, University of Oregon AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Geographic Information Systems, Bison Ecology, Isotopic Analyses PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Archaeologist, Bureau of Land Management, June 2009 – March 2014 Archaeologist, Center for Archaeological Research, June 2007 – June 2009 Archaeological Technician, University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History, June 2005 – June 2007 GRANTS, AWARDS AND HONORS: 2009 J. P. Silver Award, Best Student Paper, Idaho Archaeological Society ($150) 2008 Student Research Scholarship, California State University, Bakersfield ($2,000) v PRESENTED PAPERS: Aslett, Jamie and Marissa A. Guenther 2013 A Testament of Man: Vardis Fisher and Historical Landscape Preservation along the South Fork of the Snake River, Idaho. Paper presented at 2013 the Idaho Heritage Conference. Symposium Paper, Boise, Idaho. Guenther, Marissa A. 2010 From Folsom to Field Camps: Understanding 11,000 years of Prehistory at Castle Rocks in southern Idaho. Paper presented at the 2010 Great Basin Anthropological Conference. Symposium Paper, Layton, Utah. 2010 The two-faced trails of southern Idaho: Legitimate Routes and Bogus Blazing. Paper presented at the 2010 Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting. Symposium Paper, St. Louis, Missouri. 2009 Owl Cave: A Fresh Look at a Potential Bison Drive. Paper presented at the 2009 Idaho Archaeological Society Annual Meeting. Symposium Paper, Boise, Idaho. 2008 Owl Cave: A Fresh Look at a Potential Bison Drive. Paper presented at the 2008 Great Basin Anthropological Conference. Symposium Paper, Portland, Oregon. 2008 Bison Jump? A Fresh Approach to Investigations at the Wasden Site. Paper presented at the 2008 Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting. Symposium Paper, Vancouver, B.C. Henrikson, L.S. and Marissa A. Guenther 2012 Investigating Holocene Climate Change on the Snake River Plain through Isotopic Analyses of Bison Remains from Cold Storage Caves. Paper presented at the 2012 Great Basin Anthropological Conference. Symposium Paper, Stateline, Nevada. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Steve Croft for granting me permission to conduct research at the Wasden Site on his private property, and to Sue Miller for her familiarity of the site which has proved useful in this study. During the course of my research, The Archaeological Conservancy purchased the site and support for this study has continued through them, specifically, Cory Wilkins and Deanna Commons. Thanks are also due to Matt DeCarlo for his constant support, humor, and passion for life during the course of our graduate studies. I can honestly say I would not have wanted to share an 80 square foot space with anybody else – he was my rock. I will never forget my fellow graduate student comrades, Amy Girado, Amanda Camp (Hill), and Norman Henrikson, for providing me with intellectual stimulation and comforting looks of “we’re all in this together” on a daily basis. To my best friend and editor, Anika Henrikson, thank you for your careful eye and constant wit. I want to thank my parents for their support throughout all endeavors in my life. I am grateful to my advisor, Dr. Robert M. Yohe, II, who guided me throughout my coursework and was a constant source of inspiration and encouragement during the direction of this study. My gratitude also extends to Brenda R. Pace for her acceptance of a huge responsibility at the last minute. Her extensive knowledge and strength in pure excellence have made the work I have put forth in this study better than I could have imagined. Lastly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. L. Suzann Henrikson. This project would not have existed without her presence in my life, and her unyielding commitment to be my mentor. She has given me countless tools to advance in my career, as well as in my life. All of this done in a manner that exemplifies her constant passion to do what is right and make archaeology “sexy.” vii AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Marissa Anne Guenther for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Anthropology to be taken March 2014 Title: THE OWL CAVE MASS KILL: EXAMINING THE EVIDENCE FOR AN EARLY HOLOCENE COMMUNAL BISON DRIVE IN SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO USING GIS Although the evidence suggests that bison were consistently taken by aboriginal hunters on the eastern Snake River Plain throughout the Holocene, quantitative faunal analyses indicate that bison were taken in modest numbers. However, Owl Cave is an exception to this pattern. Dated at approximately 8,000 RCYBP, the bison bone bed suggests a successful communal drive making Owl Cave one of the earliest mass bison kills in North America utilizing this strategy. An examination of the evidence offered by the original researchers of a mass kill at Owl Cave, in addition to valuable ethnographic and archaeological evidence from the eastern Snake River Plain and the Great Plains, is conducted. New avenues of inquiry, including tools available in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), are used to assess the validity of these original claims. Using tools available in GIS, least-cost pathways are calculated to identify potential natural drive lanes and viewshed analyses are conducted to simulate the bison’s point of view while being driven. Paleoenvironmental conditions during the early Holocene (including the presence of a pluvial lake complex), unique topographic features, and high bison population densities, likely prompted aboriginal hunters to communally hunt. The implication of an early mass kill on viii the eastern Snake River Plain is significant; offering insights into aboriginal subsistence strategies, bison population densities, and paleoenvironmental conditions during early Holocene. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 II. PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS ................... 7 Previous Research at Owl Cave ................................................................................................. 7 Environmental Setting and Paleoenvironmental Conditions ...................................................... 16 III. HUMAN BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND ABORIGINAL SUBSISTENCE ON THE EASTERN SNAKE RIVER PLAIN .......................................................................................... 27 Structure and Use of Models ...................................................................................................... 30 Diet Breadth and Patch Choice Models ...................................................................................... 32 Applications of Patch Choice and Diet Breadth Models on the Eastern Snake River Plain ...... 35 IV: BISON ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION IN NORTH AMERICA ..................................... 42 V: COMMUNAL HUNTING STRATEGIES AND BISON DRIVE CHARACTERISTICS: ENTHOGRAPHIC AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE ................................................. 52 Bison Drives as a Communal Hunting Strategy ......................................................................... 54 Archaeological Evidence of Bison Hunting on the Great Plains and Southeastern Idaho: Terminal Pleistocene to Contact ..................................................................................... 64 Archaeological Evidence of Bison Drives on the Great Plains .................................................. 72 Archaeological Evidence of Bison Hunting in Southeastern Idaho ........................................... 79 VI: OWL CAVE: GIS METHODS, ANALYSES, AND RESULTS ........................................ 88 GIS Analysis of Owl Cave ......................................................................................................... 90 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 117 VII: SYNTHESIS ....................................................................................................................... 119 APPENDIX A: VIEWSHED ANALYSES FOR PATHS 1-8 ................................................... 124 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 152 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1. Location of the Wasden Site on the eastern Snake River Plain...................................... 3 2.1. Profile of the north wall of Trench C during Butler’s excavations