Seasonality of the Scottsbluff and Lipscomb Bison Bonebeds: Implications for Modeling Paleoindian Subsistence

The Scottsbluff and Lipscomb bison bonebeds initially were excavated in the 1930s. Although only brief, preliminary reports have been published on the two sites, they since have been cited widely in discussions of Paleoindian hunting practices on the western Plains. The Scottsbluff and Lipscomb sites both represent mass deaths associated with Cody Complex and Folsom artifacts respectively. Analysis of eruption and wear of the lower dentitions indicates that the Scottsbluff bison died during late spring to summer, and those at Lipscomb died only slightly later in the year (late summer to early fall). Thus, although often cited in the “yet-another-bison-bonebed” category, these two sites exhibit a pattern of seasonal mortality that is different from the generally reported tendency for Paleoindian kills to have taken place in the late fall or winter.