Finding and recognizing big game Killing Spots.

[Spotted Eye]

Killing spots are great ways to find artifacts. The Archaic peoples were very active in this type of hunting. They would choose a natural terrain feature that would bottle neck at a certain point usually with steep mountain sides. I recently found a very interesting Kill Spot, it has a small creek running through the bottom with steep hill sides an a nice natural bottle necking point. Now this is where it gets very interesting! As I studied the site at the bottle neck I realized that the Archaic people had rolled huge boulders from the tops of the ridges down to the bottle neck. Positioned the boulders in such a way as to guide the big game into a certain direction. I could see where the ancient man placed themselves to scare the game into their trap. They placed boulders in specific locations to hide behind. Now for the trap. The ancient man had quarried an entire slate cliff and rolled all of the debris down towards the creek. This slate trap is enormous it is over 500 yards long and 200 yards wide. Can you imagine the amount of work it took to accomplish this? Once the game was in the trap they were stuck, they would fall into the many holes left on purpose. Also the hill side is so steep the game animals could not get footing. trust me I climbed up the shale trap and fell twice as the shale slipped and moved under my feet. For me this is an awesome find, to see how determined ancient man was to have a place to kill big game easily. Over the years I have heard many ignorant people say how lazy or stupid the ancient man were. They were far more intelligent and industrious than most people will ever know. Now a days my reply to these sad comments about our ancient ancestors is "Could you survive in the wilderness if I dropped you off in a remote area with nothing but your knowledge, and the will to survive" The answer is always "No"!

[rmartin]

Good thread Spottedeye. This works for you folks out west, but for us flatlanders its not that easy. Kill sites do exist here but they are very hard to recognize. I have read of some famous ones in the west where the buffalo bones were 50 feet deep. You also right in assuming prehistoric man was as intelligent and industrious as we are but I bet you I could make it living off the land.

[11KBP]

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[ajbhawkowl]

At Big Bone Lick State Park there is a huge Bison kill site in Big Bone Creek . Lots of artifacts have been found . One theory was the ancient people drove them off the banks into the water then killed them as they were in water , the steep banks contained the animals .

[twiasp]

Thanks for the landscape leasson, I am into learning more of landscape things and how to recognize places to hunt, this was helpful =)

[G10+]

That would be cool to see! and as for them people that assume they were lazy and stupid," well ". there coments speek for them selfs. very intelligent, very devoted people

[Spotted Eye]

Yes I did find some cool artifacts, a mortar and pestle, 3 manos, 2 grinding slates, 2 large knives, 3 scrapers and 18 points. I found 2 cashes with a nice spear point and a dagger.

[Spotted Eye]

Hi nice to meet you! Yes I bet you could. As could many of us collectors, after collecting and researching for so many years I have become some what obsessed with the Indian culture and how they were able to survive. It doesn't hurt that I am a Lemhi Shoshone and was taught many things as a boy. Now I make all kinds of reproduction artifacts, everything from traditional bows to spears and war clubs, shields and so on. Keep hunting I believe it is or responsibility to save these ancient artifacts and to learn from them!