How did the bison survive the Ice Age and come to populate the Great Plains in such great numbers?
The ice age period realized much of the Earth’s water freezing into glaciers, lowering sea level while at the same time leaving dry land in places once known to have shallow channels that separated land masses. In order to survive this period the bison traversed the plains of North America in search of safer grounds. In addition to this, the bison’s reproduction at rate that was considerably high served to guarantee its survival even in the face of difficult times in which many other animals died.
Which of the bison kill sites presented in your reading most intrigues you? Describe how the hunters stalked their prey and harvested this resource as inferred from the archaeological remains.
It is intriguing how the early hunters presented in this reading faced great challenge relating to hunting. Such was the case that the animals were way too fast for them and could easily outrun them. This required technological innovation like uses of guns that did not exist by then as they relied upon carved pieces of stones that could not do much but to stab small animals. Obviously, they were limited as they such weapons could not enable them hunt animals like moose. In the later times, the bison hunters developed new hunting techniques where spears and fire were used. In addition, these hunters began trapping large animals in arroyos (sand dunes) or even driving them off cliff where they would drop dead.
Anthropologists agree that for the Plains Indians the horse was the most important item of Spanish material culture introduced into North America. How did adoption of the horse influence the bison hunters? Was its impact only economic, or did it influence other aspects of Plains Indian life?
The adoption of horse was one of the great Spanish material culture introduced into North America that went far to impact the life of the bison hunters. The horses served as a good companion for the hunters as it offered the speed required to catch up with the fast animals. It is said that “a good horseman could easily lance or shoot enough bison to keep his tribe and family fed, as long as a herd was nearby.” Apart from the economic impact horses provided i.e. used as an important medium of exchange, they became the hunter’s great asset during hinting activities that was the main source of their livelihood i.e. provision of food.
Only bison hunters occupied Great Plains at historic contact. Please give an explanation to why you chose true or false,
False-from the reading we are told of the new immigrants who introduced the horses which made bison hunting much easier a factor that suggest a new community must have lived in the plains. In addition, these bison hunters are said to have engaged in trading activities which I suppose to have been carried between them and different people.
What contributions do you associate with the famous plains archaeologist, George Frison?
George Frison, the famous archeologist, offers profound pool of information with regard to the early Hunters that lived in the Great Plains of North America. Today, researchers can benefit from his long experience as a rancher and hunter in the region that further present him as “a good pointer to bear on excavation data from the region relating to hunting, illuminating prehistoric hunting practices in entirely new ways. The knowledge acquired following his detailed understanding of animal habitats and their way of life and also his familiarity with hunting methods we get to understand important information on early hunters.
What is pemmican, and what value does it have for mobile hunting populations like the Sioux and Cheyenne?
Pemmican is a strong nourishing mixture made from protein and fat. This food which was invented by the natives of North America served as a high energy food used by mobile hunting population such as the Sioux and cheyenne. These people kept moving from one place to another a case that required high energy food such as pemmican to supplement the energy lost during the movements. Also fats could stay for a longer time without going bad, a factor that made it possible for the food to serve them for quite a long time while on migration.
Work Cited
Bement, C, Leland and Carter, J.Brian.Bison Hunting at Cooper Site: Where LightningBolts Drew Thundering Herds.New York: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999. Print.
