Ancient Pronghorn Kill Site

Ancient Pronghorn Kill Site. . During construction of Highway 191 in the early 1990s, the oldest known pronghorn kill processing site in Wyoming was discovered and excavated on the ridges below. Three intact cultural layers were uncovered with radiocarbon dates ranging from 4690 to 7880 years before present. , (map at upper left) , Trappers Point is in a one mile wide natural bottleneck between the Green River and Duck Creek. Like their ancient ancestors, thousands of pronghorn pass through here each spring and fall, traveling between winter range in the south and summer ranges in the north of the Green River Basin. The wildlife overpass was built in 2014 by the State of Wyoming to reduce vehicle and wildlife collisions on US 191. , Stone Point , Analysis of fetal bones and teeth as the archaeological site indicates the pronghorn were killed here in the spring corresponding with modern movements. Ancient people recognized wildlife patterns and came to this spot during the spring migration to ambush the evasive pronghorn, probably hiding behind the ridge and surprising the animals with spears or atlatl darts. Bones from this site show pronghorn 6000 years ago were about 8% larger than modern pronghorn. , Excavation Overview , Of the more than 176,000 items recovered, the vast majority were pronghorn bones and stone tools, including projectile points, knives, scrapers, flakes, and fire-cracked rocks. Along with evidence of fire pits, rock boiling, bone butchering, bone beads and awls, this site indicates prehistoric people were coming to this spot repeatedly over thousands of years to procure and process pronghorn. , The Trappers Point Archaeology site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007. , Visit TrappersPoint.com to watch live and recorded video of the wildlife navigating the bottleneck.