North American Great Plains bison bonebeds: Exploring human impacts to scavenging carnivores through carnivore utilization taphonomy

Data concerning carnivore modification and utilization of North American zooarchaeological assemblages have often been used to understand site formation processes and rarely discussed beyond descriptions of tooth marks present or overall percentages of elements with modifications. This paper describes the results of a taphonomic analysis concerning degree of carnivore utilization for eight bison bonebeds from Wyoming and Colorado (Casper, Jones-Miller, Horner II, Hawken, Cordero Mine, Kaplan-Hoover, Cache Hill, and Glenrock). Carnivore utilization is used to identify patterns in overall use of carrion material as opposed to recording discrete modification marks such as punctures or pits. Results demonstrate carnivore utilization varies temporally, with assemblages from the Paleoindian and Late Plains Archaic periods exhibiting abundant tooth marks and the heaviest utilization of bison carcasses, and assemblages from the Early to Middle Plains Archaic periods displaying the least amount of utilization. These results are evaluated with a consideration of carnivore scavenging behaviors to elucidate relationships between humans and carnivores, specifically with regards to changes in human population sizes. By scavenging human-produced carrion, carnivores built a reliance on humans, further demonstrating the long-term impacts humans had on carnivore behaviors.