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Origin Stories, Archaeological Evidence, and Postclovis Paleoindian Bison Hunting on the Great Plains

Bibliographic Data

ID2655520
AuthorsD B Bamforth (0000-0003-3362-7873, University of Colorado System, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume76
Issue1
Pages24-40
Publication date2011-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.7183/0002-7316.76.1.24
OpenAlexW2318185912
LanguageEN
Citations received33
References cited69

Reconstructions of the Paleoindian period are archaeology's origin stories about the native people of North America. These reconstructions have strongly emphasized great differences between recent and ancient Native Americans, echoing a perspective with its roots in the nineteenth century. One central component of the differences archaeologists have seen lies in the way that Paleoindian groups moved across the landscape. Particularly on the Great Plains, these movements have been seen as unpredictable and nonrepetitive, with this view founded largely in interpretations of evidence from large bison kills. This paper compares the overall patterns of post-Clovis Paleoindian and post-Paleoindian communal bison hunting on the Plains, arguing that there is no evidence of rapid or substantial change in such hunting at the end of the Paleoindian period. Although hunting practices did not remain exactly the same over time, most of the basic characteristics of Paleoindian hunting were common on the Plains for millennia. Only the northern Plains stands out from this, and it does so only within the last 2,000 to 3,000 years, probably in reaction to the development of continent-wide exchange networks. Paleoindians certainly lived different lives than did later occupants of the Great Plains, but the literature significantly exaggerates the magnitude of this difference

Archaeological evidence · Archaeology · Ethnology · Geography · Hunter-gatherer · Period (music · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

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Unique citing works33
Citations per year2,2
Citation span2011 - 2026 (16)
Citation velocitycurrent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 33
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