Abstract
The paucity of artiodactyl bone at many Wyoming Basin archaeological sites is often explained by suggesting that bison and other large mammals were unavailable. Ignored is the ethnographic, historic, and modern record of deboning large animals at the kill site, and the transport of meat only to the residential camps. The resulting under-representation of artiodactyl bone skews the data base in favor of small animal bone, primarily from lagomorphs, which were likely brought into the residential camps whole. This problem is compounded when NISP data is used to infer subsistence, because it assigns each bone specimen, regardless of species, the same subsistence value. Consequently, available food yield based on average live weight is suggested to be a better estimate of the human diet, and consequent subsistence focus, than are interpretations based on the exclusive use of NISP/MNI.
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