PAGE 1
DILTS SITE
A NEWLY DISCOVERED BISON KILL SITE
PALEO-INDIAN
CAMPBELL CO., WYOMING
EST. 9,500 TO 8,000 YEARS AGO
PAGE 1 OF 2 PAGES
COPYRIGHT OCTOBER 31, 2003 PETER A. BOSTROM
Paleo point from the Dilts site, with restored ear.
CONCAVE BASE PALEO PROJECTILE POINT WITH EAR RESTORED
DILTS BISON KILL SITE
DILTS COLLECTION

Dilts site abstract picture.

THE DILTS BISON KILL SITE
PALEO-INDIAN PERIOD

by Pete Bostrom

    The Dilts site is a Paleo-Indian site that shows evidence of a bison kill. It was recently discovered, by archaeologists working for Western Land Services, during a survey of the ground surface in preparation for methane gas well drilling in the area. At this point, no on site excavations have been done. Surface monitoring has recorded one concave base Paleo-Indian spear point and a wide area scatter of bison bone fragments. An estimated date for the projectile point is somewhere between 9,500 and 8,000 years ago. Note: April, 2004------ A radio carbon date from a bison bone sample has returned a date of 10,170 +/- 50.
    The written text and the on site photographs were contributed by Jason M. La Belle, Project Archaeologist for Western Land Services.

    "----bison kill sites seem to be the most frequent and obvious of the major archaeological manifestations on the high plains. In the future, a proportionately larger share of our archaeological interpretations will probably have to come from these types of sites".---1974, George C. Frison, "The Casper Site, A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High Plains" chapter 7 Concluding Summary p. 241. 

Dilts site, Campbell County, Wyoming.
PHOTO CREDIT, JASON GARBER
THE DILTS BISON KILL SITE
THE DILTS SITE IS LOCATED ON THE "WIND SWEPT" HIGH PLAINS
IN NORTH EASTERN WYOMING

THE DILTS SITE
BISON KILL
PALEO-INDIAN PERIOD

by Jason LaBelle

    The Dilts site (48CA4718) is a new Paleo-Indian locale discovered in August 2003 by archaeologists working for Western Land Services out of Sheridan, Wyoming. Like many archaeologists working in North America, our survey crew (Juanita Mines & Jason Garber) documents archaeological sites located within areas slated for, in this case, energy development. Important sites are literally being discovered and preserved on a daily basis through this work. The Dilts site was discovered in advance of the drilling of coal bed methane gas wells in Campbell County, Wyoming which represents one of the fastest growing industries in the Powder River Basin of northern Wyoming.

Projectile point insitu on the Dilts site.
PHOTO CREDIT, JASON GARBER
PALEO-INDIAN PERIOD SPEAR POINT
DILTS SITE
CAMPBELL COUNTY, WYOMING
DILTS COLLECTION

   This picture shows the single projectile point, as it was found by Juanita Mines, lying on the surface of the site. The inset picture shows it a little closer. Notice that one ear is missing. It is made of fine-grained quartzite and measures 3 1/4 inches (8.2 cm) long.

   The single point was found by Juanita Mines where it lay on the bank of a dry wash, in association with fragments of bison bone. No other tools have been found on the site so far. Most of the bone was highly fragmented, probably from natural agents such as decay and erosion. We simply don't know, with the evidence at hand, if humans stripped meat off these bones or smashed them for the bone grease and marrow. The bones look to be from a single buffalo, and includes parts of the head, the tailbone (sacrum), some ribs, and teeth. Well known Paleo-Indian kill sites have been found to contain anywhere from a dozen up to several hundred bison per kill! However, these small kills of one or two animals were probably much more common. The animal might have been killed when it was moving from the creek bottom (to the south) to the tablelands above the site (to the north). The dry wash provided a natural route for animals to move between these two areas. We know from routinely used arroyo traps for killing bison throughout the past.

CONTINUE ON TO PAGE TWO

"REFERENCES"

2003, LaBelle, Jason M., "A Class III Cultural Resource Inventory of Williams Production RMT Antelope I Addendum Coal Bed Methane Plan of Development, Campbell County, Wyoming", WLS Archaeology Report 03-08, pages14-24.
Personal communications with Jason M. LaBelle.

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