Bison Hunting at Cooper Site

by Leland C. Bement

Almost seventy years ago the first Folsom projectile point found in association with ancient bison bones in northern New Mexico demonstrated that Paleoindian people were in the New World as long ago as the end of the last ice age. To this day intact deposits containing Folsom points are rare, yet these points, with their distinctive channel flakes and exquisite craftsmanship, remain the best identifier of the culture. The Cooper site, discovered in 1992 in northwestern Oklahoma, is among the largest Folsom-age kill sites in the southern plains. Including extraordinarily well-preserved bison bones and thirty-three projectile points, the site has yielded major contributions to what is known of this early people. Leland C. Bement outlines the history of the Cooper site, its discovery and excavation. As the remains were found in stratified bonebeds, they provide the first clear traces of sequential Folsom activity. Analysis of the bones indicates a selective or "gourmet" butchering technique and offers insights into bison-herd demographics. Assessment of the projectile points suggests the movements of Folsom groups in relation to lithic sources. Here also is the first evidence of Folsom hunting ritual, in the form of a startling red zigzag painted on one of the skulls. The painted skull--the oldest design-painted object in North America--greatly enlarges the significance of the Cooper site, offering evidence of early ritual rarely seen in the tangible physical record.

250 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never read an archaeological study before, so I was able to skim through all the detailed science and graphs and read the good parts.

My interest in the Cooper Site was aroused in 2007 when I was reading some Oklahoma history and touring in Western Oklahoma and went to the site (though now I realize that while I was on the Cooper land, I didn't find the actual dig site, though I thought I had :( ).

The painted bison skull found at the Cooper site is the oldest piece of painted art work in North America. It is a red lightning bolt on the forehead. I have talked about it in sermons and speeches a few times the last five years (most recently on Palm Sunday) and it figures prominently in the "theology of the plains" I am working on.

The book includes an enjoyable narrative about the dig, and you really get the enthusiasm of the scientist over their great find. Much of the book is dense scientific study that won't interest a lay person. So, you either have to be really interested in this subject or in archaeology itself to want to read this book. I'm wondering if there has been an anthropological study of the red lightning bolt?

Otherwise, you'll have to wait a few years for my book to read the theological interpretation.