Late Pleistocene Horse Hunting at the Wally's Beach Site (DhPg-8), Canada

Abstract

Evidence from the Wally's Beach site in southwestern Alberta indicates Pleistocene horses were hunted by Clovis age peoples. A number of artifacts are associated with a horse skeleton, including a cut-marked hyoid indicative of butchering and a flake projecting below one of the vertebrae that establishes the archaeological material is not intrusive. A large unmodified cobble apparently was used to mark the kill or anchor the cache. Six other finds of horse remains also have associated lithic artifacts. Horse behavior is explored to speculate on hunting strategy. It is concluded that humans and climate change probably contributed to the late Pleistocene extinction of North American horses.

Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free corridor: Reassessing the age of Wally’s Beach, Canada

“…The ribs of the camel display spiral fractures where they were broken away from the vertebral column. These taphonomic patterns are consistent with human disarticulation; the absence of carnivore gnaw marks and other damage to the bones suggests rapid burial of the horse and camel localities (1,2). Twenty-nine lithic artifacts and one rounded cobble were found at the horse localities (1), with at least one lithic artifact associated with each horse.…”

“…Individual carcasses and associated artifacts were buried to a depth of 1.5-2.0 m in aeolian loess and sand that overlies Wisconsinan glacio-fluvial sediments. Each carcass was isolated and horizontally separated from other carcasses by 25-100 m over a distance of 500 m (1,2). At each locality, some bones of each carcass were still articulated, although most were scattered and with some elements missing (Fig.…”

Revisiting Paleoindian exploitation of extinct North American mammals

“…Of the seven horses, Kooyman et al (2006) find the best evidence for human involvement to have 560 been provided by horse B. Eight non-diagnostic lithic artifacts were found in and near the remains of this 561 animal, including a large cobble directly associated with the animal's vertebral column.…”

“…583 Kooyman et al (2006:104-105) consider this possibility, but argue that there has been "no opportunity 584 for deflation of recent archaeological material from higher in the deposits." However, given that ca 1.5 -585 2 m of overlying sediment were removed by wind erosion prior to the discovery of the site (McNeil et al 586 2005, Kooyman et al 2006, we cannot entirely preclude the possibility that just such a process did occur. 587…”

“…One surface of the utilized flake found partly beneath a 576 horse B thoracic vertebra, for instance, "shows clear evidence of the pebble-textured, pitting type of 577 abrasion typical of wind-blown sand" (Kooyman et al 2006:105). Kooyman et al (2006) report finding 578 use wear on top of the abraded surfaces, and suggest that this sequence results from the use of tools 579 cached at the site. Still, we are puzzled how wind could have abraded the surfaces of stone tools yet left 580 bone surfaces unscathed and the tracks of horse, camel, mammoth, and other large mammals intact 581 (McNeil et al 2004(McNeil et al , 2005(McNeil et al , 2007, all in an area in which wind speeds today can reach 160 km/h 582 (Kooyman et al 2001).…”