People on the Fringe: Exploitation of Contrasting Environments on the North American Plains

The Journey Museum, Rapid City SD

Investigators

Abstract

This project explores prehistoric human adaptations on the North American Plains. More specifically, it focuses on the mode of exploitation of the resources of the Black Hills of South Dakota, a prominent land feature on the northern plains. The richness and diversity of the food resources provided by the Black Hills contrast sharply with the surrounding barren landscape, so much so that they have been labeled an "island in the plains". In order to investigate how prehistoric groups of hunter-gatherers exploited such contrasting environments, Dr. F. Sellet from the Journey Museum, and M. Fosha from the South Dakota Archaeological Research Center, will conduct the excavation of a rich and important archaeological site, the Movie Draw site, located in Custer State Park. The multidisciplinary project, funded by the National Science Foundation, will establish a chronological framework for linking paleo-environmental data to significant changes in subsistence strategies at the site. The Movie Draw site is a medium size rock shelter that has yielded the most extensive sequence of Late Woodland-Late Prehistoric occupations known to date in the Black Hills. These were times of increased social complexity and demographic changes, created by, or associated with, the intensification of food production. Concomitant with the major social reorganization that took place on the northern plains during this period was the emergence of new technologies. Chief among them was the adoption of the bow and arrow. The Movie Draw project will test the hypothesis that the shift from the atlatl (spear thrower) to the bow and arrow had a significant impact on strategies of exploitation of the Black Hills. The project will scrutinize changes in site function, or visible shifts in hunting strategies for instance, and explore how these changes relate to paleo-environmental circumstances or to advancements in technology. Ultimately, the greater understanding of strategies of exploitation of marginal ecozones, such as the Black Hills, should help refine current archaeological models of prehistoric adaptations to the Plains. The Great Plains are often described as a monotonous landscape. This perception has affected models of human adaptation in a similar manner and resulted in the emphasis of a single dimension of the diet: the reliance on bison. The Movie Draw project will test the limitations of such an approach.