Olsen–Chubbuck Bison Kill Site facts for kids

The Olsen–Chubbuck Bison kill site is a very old place located about 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Kit Carson, Colorado. This site dates back to around 8000–6500 B.C., which is a long, long time ago! It shows us how Paleo-Indians, who were early people living in North America, hunted bison using a special method called a game drive system. This was long before people used bows and arrows or horses for hunting.

The site is named Olsen–Chubbuck after the two amateur archaeologists who first found the huge pile of bones: Sigurd Olsen and Gerald Chubbuck. Later, between 1958 and 1960, Joe Ben Wheat, an anthropologist from the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, led a big excavation here. They found the bones of almost 200 bison that these ancient hunters had killed and prepared.

Ancient Bison and Hunting Methods

After huge animals like mammoths died out a long time ago, bison became super important for the Paleo-Indians. They used bison for food, clothing (from their hides), and even shelter. Bison usually traveled in herds of 50 to 300 animals, always looking for food using their strong sense of smell.

Bison didn't have very good eyesight, which helped the hunters. The hunters used a "game drive system." This meant they would get close to a herd, scare them, and make them stampede (run wildly). They would then guide the stampeding bison into natural traps like bison jumps or deep ditches called arroyos.

How the Site Was Found

The Olsen–Chubbuck site was first discovered in 1957 by Gerald Chubbuck, who was a young archaeologist. He found several special projectile points (like spear tips) and five separate piles of bones in the northern part of the Arkansas River valley. He told the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History about his amazing find, and they started an initial dig.

Digging Up the Past

The excavation site was in a dry ditch, or arroyo, which was about 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, 200 feet (61 m) long, and 7 feet (2.1 m) deep. In one 170-foot (52 m) section, they found nearly 200 Bison occidentalis skeletons!

Early Discoveries by Chubbuck and Olsen

In 1957, Gerald Chubbuck worked with another amateur archaeologist named Sigurd Olsen. Together, they dug up the bones of about 50 bison from one-third of the site.

Joe Ben Wheat and the University of Colorado Museum

By the spring of 1958, the University of Colorado Museum got permission to dig from the landowner, Paul Forward, as well as from Chubbuck and Olsen. Joe Ben Wheat led these important excavations between 1958 and 1960. Wheat and his team uncovered 143 more bison skeletons. In total, they found 16 calves (baby bison), 27 young bulls, 38 young cows, 46 adult bulls, and 63 adult cows.

Wheat's careful work, describing everything from how the bison were driven into the arroyo to how they were butchered, became a model for studying other Paleo-Indian sites. His work gained national attention.

The Bison Stampede Theory

By looking at how the 190 Bison occidentalis skeletons were positioned, scientists figured out that the hunters had stampeded the animals into the arroyo. The bison that fell in first were killed by the fall and by other bison falling on top of them. Their bones were twisted and covered by the animals that followed.

It's thought that the bison ran from north to south, with the hunters staying upwind (so the bison couldn't smell them). The discovery of 16 nearly newborn calves suggests that this big hunt probably happened in late May or early July. Getting so many bison to stampede into the arroyo would have needed a lot of "cooperative planning" among the hunters.

How the Bison Were Prepared

The site showed three different layers of bison remains:

• The bottom layer had skeletons of 13 bison that hadn't been touched.
• The middle layer contained almost complete skeletons, or ones that were only partly butchered.
• The top layer had single bones and connected parts of skeletons that had been butchered.

The top layer showed that as the Paleo-Indians carefully removed the meat from the bones, they put them into separate piles. These piles contained bones from several animals. The way they butchered the bison was similar to, but much more organized than, how later Plains Indians did it. Moving the Bison occidentalis bones for butchering would have taken a lot of hard work. The Olsen-Chubbuck hunters likely ate the tongues of the bison as they worked, because isolated tongue bones were found in the piles. It probably took about half a day for 100 people to butcher all the bison.

How Much Meat They Got

Scientists estimate how much edible meat each bison provided:

• Young calf: 50 pounds (23 kg)
• Young male: 165 pounds (75 kg)
• Young female: 110 pounds (50 kg)
• Adult male: 550 pounds (250 kg)
• Adult female: 400 pounds (180 kg)

Based on the number of skeletons, it's thought the hunters got about 56,640 pounds (25,690 kg) of meat, plus a lot of fat and internal organs. Fresh meat only stays good for about a month. If one-third of the meat was dried for later, archaeologists believe that about 150 adults and children would have been needed to eat the remaining fresh meat within that month.

Meat was probably dried to preserve it. About 20 pounds (9.1 kg) of dried meat could be made from 100 pounds (45 kg) of fresh meat. It's thought that Paleo-Indians might have made pemmican from the tough neck meat. Pemmican is dried meat pounded into a powder, similar to how later Plains Indians preserved food.

Tools and Artifacts Found

Archaeologists found 27 projectile points at the site, with 21 of them being complete or almost whole. These points included Scottsbluff, Eden lanceolate points, and Milnesand points.

Other interesting tools and items found at the Olsen-Chubbuck kill site include:

• 1 bifacial flaked knife and 1 Alibates knife
• 1 side-scraper and 3 end-scrapers (tools for scraping hides)
• 2 utilized flakes (sharp stone pieces used as tools) and 3 resharpening flakes
• 1 hammer/anvil stone (used for pounding)
• 3 small stones, 1 limonite pebble, and 4 cut, notched, or polished bones.

The Cody Complex Connection

The Olsen–Chubbuck site is part of what archaeologists call the Cody complex. This was a Plano culture that existed about 9,000 to 7,000 years ago in the Great Plains region. Many of the tools found at Olsen-Chubbuck were similar to those used by the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition, such as knives, stone scrapers, and bone ornaments and needles. The Scottsbluff and Eden points, which date to about 6,500 B.C., are typical of the Cody culture.

Images for kids

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  Part of an excavated bison bonebed, similar to Olsen-Chubbuck.

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  An illustration of a buffalo jump, where bison were driven off a cliff.

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  The skull of a Bison occidentalis, the type of bison found at the site.

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  Examples of a Cody complex knife and projectile points, like those found at Olsen-Chubbuck.