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Calf Creek Embedded in Bison Skull

Posted on 07. Feb, 2009 by Shannon Graham in Artifact Finds, Projectile Techonolgoy

Much discussion and speculation has centered around how Andice (and Calf Creek Culture ) points were utilized; more specifically, were they knives or projectiles?

A diagnostic trait of the group (Calf Creek, Bell, Andice) is the unusually deep basal nothing which resulted in long drooping barbs or ‘ears’ and a long, slender stem. While these deep notches could better facilitate hafting, it would also seem at first glance to make the tool extremely delicate as a knife or projectile. Secondly, artifacts of this ‘type’ are often wide-bodied and not prone to flight. It would take a great deal of force to launch one of these into flight with any significant degree of flight time and force.

Texas resident expert Carey Weber has several published studies on the Andice form, one being break patterns. The design lent itself to many specimens being broken in manufacture. Others obviously suffered injury in the line of duty with a number sustaining unmistakable impact fractures. Enter the bison occidentalis stage right….

Kim Holt made an amazing discovery on a sand bar along the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kim found a 5000 year-old Bison Occidentalis skull with an embedded Calf Creek projectile point protruding from the forehead. After informing archeologists from the University of Oklahoma University, a thorough study of this rare find ensued including many photographs, CT scans and radio-carbon dating. The find was also the feature of a 2005 PBS episode of History Detectives.

OU archaeologist Leland Bement said this 5,000 year−old bison skull and a spearhead embedded in it represent the missing evolutionary link between two species and a wealth of information about an ancient people.

“It’s not a hoax,” Bement said. “It’s a bison with a spear through its head.” To prove this, archaeologists at OU enlisted the help of colleagues at the University of Texas. The skull was taken to Austin for a CAT scan. This scan revealed the intricate interior of the bison skull and details about its demise.

The find was instrumental in contributing knowledge about Holocene hunters and to dispel speculation that Calf Creeks tools were only utilized as knives.

Although researchers have debated whether this style of implement functioned as a spear point or that of a hafted knife, this specimen illustrates its effectiveness as a projectile point.  That the animal was alive at the time of the attack is indicated by the displacement of the skull bone without subsequent fracture of the rear wall.  Living bone is rather plastic and can flex to absorb the impact force and be displaced by the thickness of the point.  The bone rebounded and clamped the point in place.  This projectile point would not have killed the animal, but may have knocked it senseless, enabling the hunters time to inflict a mortal wound.

Kim donated this rare find to the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History.

Get the full story here http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/Skull/skull.htm

Update: Kim passed away January 22, 2009 at his home at the age of 52. He was half Cheyenne-Arapaho, and one of the state’s most prolific river collectors. He will be missed by many

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Tags: Andice, Calf Creek, Oklahoma, Projectile Points