Evidence for Human Modification of a Late Pleistocene Bison (Bison sp.) Bone from the Klondike District, Yukon Territory, Canada

A 31 000 BP bison limb bone from Nugget Gulch near Dawson City, Yukon, shows a "ring crack" considered to be a human-made impact mark resulting in exposure of marrow. This bone is approximately contemporaneous with wolf, horse, and Dall sheep specimens found on an ancient Mid-Wisconsinan t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ARCTIC
Main Authors: Harington, C.R., Morlan, Richard E.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 2002
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/63755
Description
Summary:A 31 000 BP bison limb bone from Nugget Gulch near Dawson City, Yukon, shows a "ring crack" considered to be a human-made impact mark resulting in exposure of marrow. This bone is approximately contemporaneous with wolf, horse, and Dall sheep specimens found on an ancient Mid-Wisconsinan terrain surface at this locality. Similar ring cracks, also interpreted as human-made, have been noted on late-glacial bison bones from Engigstciak, Yukon, and Lost Chicken Creek, Alaska. Un os de membre de bison datant de 31 000 ans av. J.-C. et provenant de Nugget Gulch près de Dawson City au Yukon, montre une "fissure circulaire" que l'on considère être la marque d'un impact donné par un être humain pour mettre la moelle à nu. Cet os est à peu près contemporain de spécimens provenant de loups, de chevaux et de mouflons de Dall trouvés au même endroit, à la surface d'un ancien terrain datant du milieu du wisconsinien. On a remarqué des fissures circulaires semblables, que l'on a aussi interprétées comme découlant d'une action humaine, sur des os de bison du tardiglaciaire trouvés à Engigstciak au Yukon et à Lost Chicken Creek en Alaska.