Bone Marrow and Bone Grease Exploitation at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village (Landon Karr)

Bone Marrow and Bone Grease Exploitation at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village (Landon Karr)

The Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village (39DV2, Mitchell, South Dakota, USA) represents the remains of a village of sedentary hunters and farmers dating to approximately 1000 years before present. The inhabitants of the site made intensive use of local wild bison herds, animals which are represented in the archaeological record by vast deposits of largely fragmented bone. The exploitation of bone fats at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village had long been suspected but was only recently demonstrated scientifically. The current research details the analysis of bone fragment assemblages from three different temporal periods at the Mitchell site. While previous work had demonstrated the presence of an intensive marrow and bone grease processing industry at the end of the cultural occupation of the site, this research examines the changes in bone fat exploitation over time. Using a recently developed methodology, bone fragment assemblages are examined and compared using breakage patterns, degrees of comminution, and elemental-quality selectivity as cultural indicators of bone fat exploitation. A distinct lack of evidence for normal taphonomic agencies such as trampling and gnawing, and the presence of cut marks and dynamic impact scars, solidify the hypothesis and suggest human cultural bone fat exploitation activity as the only explanation for the vast fragmented bone assemblages at the site. The results of this analysis demonstrate that bone marrow exploitation was a significant cultural activity throughout the 100-year occupation of the site, while bone grease exploitation activities increased dramatically over time.

Landon Karr, University of Exeter

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