Location: Guymon, Oklahoma, United States
Join an international team of researchers as they converge in the Oklahoma panhandle to tackle questions of Paleoindian organization and hunting technology. This summer we will continue excavating the late Paleoindian age Bull Creek camp site and nearby Ravenscroft bison kill site in the Oklahoma panhandle. The Bull Creek camp is a large, deeply buried habitation site containing activity areas, lithic reduction areas, and animal processing areas. This site dates to the Late Paleoindian Period. We plan to open an extended excavation block of approximately 25 square meters adjacent to the existing 30 square meter areas excavated in 2009 and 2015. At Ravenscroft we will uncover a bone bed in a newly discovered arroyo near the previously excavated arroyo kill. We hope to find projectile points to identify the culture responible for the kill. Students will have the opportunity to uncover a 9000 year old bison bonebed. The bison are Bison antiquus, making them 20 percent larger than modern bison. We hope to identify the site extent and uncover additional bones and cultural material. At both these sites students will learn standard excavation techniques, soils and stratigraphy, bonebed excavation, and other archaeological procedures. Field trips to nearby archaeological sites will provide comparative fodder for discussions.
At the moment we have set the dates for this project to begin June 6, 2016 and end July 8, 2016. However, these dates are subject to change as summer gets closer. Please email for latest schedule and additional information.
Period(s) of Occupation: Late Paleoindian, Plainview
Room and Board Arrangements
Live in tents at nearby ranch. Water and cook house provided.
Bement, Leland C. 1999 Bison Hunting at Cooper Site, Where Lightning Bolts Drew Thundering Herds. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.