Interesting Find III

I was hunting Muley's out in NC MT.

Working my way up this deep draw. My idea was to get to the top and do some glassing. As I reached the head of the draw I noticed how I was getting boxed in. 75 to 100 foot cliffs in a horse shoe shape, with no way to climb out. Oh well I would have to back track.

As I was about to turn back I noticed something strange looking in the wash ahead. Recent heavy rains had exposed about a six foot layer of this strange looking stuff. I took a closer look. It was compacted bones. Decomposed to the point that it would crumble when I picked pieces up. How many animals would have had to be buried he to make that many bones? I guessed the area to be about a half acre, and assumed the bone layer to be as big.

Well I left the area wondering, what in the world? I wasn't long and it dawned on me what occurred.

That was 25 years ago, and I have thought many times since "I got to get back there someday" Well I finally made it back last Fall. No problem finding the same draw. Got permission from the old rancher, then a nice 3 mile hike and I was back.

A large part of the Sand Stone cliff had crumbled and broke off leaving a pile of rock and sand. Once again burying the bones. 10 foot high Fir and Ponderosa's grew out of the sand, so the cave in happened a while back.

Does anyone know what events took place, to cause all the bones to be at this spot?
6,931
Hiker
Were they Buffalo bones? If so, it could have been a place where the indians would herd them and drive them off the edges of the cliff. :-k
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NONYA
Its a buffalo kill site,many of them that are in draws like this date back to pre-modern indian times,once they had horses they hunted them on the fly and used horses to push them over actual jumps.They would use runners to herd them down these deep draws and have killers waiting in the bottom to spear them.There are 3 of these sites on my friends ranch nort of here.The first one i found leads down to the Sun river,I recovered to large chirt points from this site that are pre-modern and are probably small spear points,they are to thick and heavy to have been arrow heads,they are also made from a white chirt that is indicative of neolithic man.On another one off a plateau overlooking the Missouri river I recovered a large obsidian scraper,a large chunk of obsidian,a buffalo horn cap and a few arow heads of more modern design.Both of these sites look like they used the river to slow down the buffalo so they could kill them before they entered the water,two different locations from two different eras but exactly the same setup,a deep draw leading down to a body of water.Here is a pic of the pieces I described.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/H3RP3S/points.jpg" alt="" />
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killerbee
well i'm on board on this theary! while reading, what hiker and nonya came up with, was exactly what i was thinking. makes sence to me! I went to an old guys house the other day and he's hunted Arrow heads his whole life and he has litterally thousands of arrowheads, no kidding they are all in display cases, i've never seen a museum with this many arrow heads a few were 12- 15" speer points that are amazing! he had permission from an old rancher to dig an area that was an old indian camp. it was impressive and i'm not even really in to that kind of stuff. but some collection like that you always have to tip your hat to.
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NONYA
the 2 points on the left are the older chirt points,the two on the right are the more modern points.
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MuleyMadness
Wow very cool, not sure how I dare argue with the conclusion. Sounds to be the a great answer.

Cool photos, I'd love to stumble upon something like that.
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hound_hunter
man thats awesome - Thats probably 1 of my many favorite feelings in the world is finding an arrowhead. I dont think I could even imagine stumbling onto a whole buffalo jump!!!!!
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waynedevore
Yup, No question this is a piskun site.

I spent a good part of the day last Oct, Imagining How they went about this.

Tepee Rings on a ridge about a half mile away.

Indians camped here watching, waiting for the right opportunity.

When conditions were right everyone took positions. The herd was funneled, stampeded to the cliff. Long lines of Indians with shields, anything to frighten the herd in the direction of the cliff. Even buffalo runners, [no doubt the ultimate in athletes] Would run ahead of the herd with a buffalo head on to appear to be a buffalo and lead the herd over the cliff. At the last moment these young heroes would swing on a pre placed vine and swing under the cliff to safety. At least that was the plan.

There were so many buffalo in those days herds numbered in the thousands. The tribes took all they could handle, and after a few days the the rotting carcuses would still sometimes be numbered in the hundreds, maybe thousands on a good run.

The buffalo jumps stopped at the time the northern Indians acquired horses.
Mostly because of the sport and no longer would they have the waste.
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waynedevore
These are the pics I took in Oct, Some 4 to 6 hundred years after the piskun was last used.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/mnmt123/p10102572.jpg" alt="" />

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/mnmt123/p10102582.jpg" alt="" />

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e64/mnmt123/p10102562.jpg" alt="" />
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killerbee
awsome pics and great story to boot! amazing what the indians could do with extremely less means than modern people!
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Utahbowhunter
Cool pics. Yeah.. maybe they were from the indians!
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chet
Nonya, how in the world did that horn cap survive?
dont they usally decay pretty fast?
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NONYA
Im not sure,im guessing the dry soil leached the moisture out of them and kept them from rotting,here is 2 more caps and a stone hammer i pulled out of another kill site.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/H3RP3S/caps.jpg" alt="" />
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The Ox
sweet story man very cool find
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waynedevore
When I first stumbled on the site in 82 there were pieces of bone very much like NONYA has. And skull plates, the bone between the eyes and horns. I didn't take any souvenirs, now I wish I would have.

Down lower in the wash there's a spring, no doubt a camp. I found stuff that looks like could have been used as a scraping tool. Lots of rocks that look like they've been hot. Mostly one can only imagine, it was at least half a century ago.
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NONYA
I found a spot up near the CMR,an entire campsite,the teepee rings and fire rings were in complete order,you could see where everything had been,you could tell the fire ring rocks because they were darkened from who knows how many campfires,im going to try to get back ther next time i hunt that area and do some digging.
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AntlersOutWest
Lets see some pictures of Teepee rings!

My uncle found a cave up in the Uintas a couple years ago.
He had to repel down to the bottom about 30 feet.

He found arrow heads, pottery and a entire skeleton of a buffalo.
We dont have buffalo in these parts of country, its about 13,0000 ft elevation. He figured that it was a adult, and by the skeleton it was about 4 ft tall.

Very interesting how these people lived.. Makes you wonder where the buffalo came from and where did they go.
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bigbuck92
ya them types places are cool. over in hannah theres a indian burrial site and you can find artifacts all though there
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