Abstract

The nearly singular subsistence reliance by Late Prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the northwestern Plains on bison (Bison bison) is well-established. In a significant departure from that subsistence adaptation, a group of Avonlea Phase people occupying a floodplain of the upper Missouri River during late winter ca. 1200 radiocarbon years before present (RCYBP) procured a large number of pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). The excavated sample contains a minimum of 83 post-natal and 25 fetal pronghorn. Comprehensive breakage and utilization of carcass parts indicates that these people experienced significant nutritional stress. Whether Lost Terrace represents an example of patterned seasonal pronghorn hunting in the river bottom or was forced as a subsistence departure from reliance on river bottom wintering bison has not been determined at this time.

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