How did people kill bison for their everyday needs when they were running around in herds? The average bison can be up to 6.5 feet tall, run more than 30 miles per hour, and jump up to 6 feet in the air. That is a lot to take on when they are in a group so large that they blackened the plains. Bison were an important symbol to the ancient people of North America. Bison were used for bedding, clothing, food, and much more.

Archaeologists have found a site in northwestern Oklahoma revealing three dozen bison feet, legs, and backbones. A quartzite hammer stone was also discovered, which revealed that altogether, the site was a bison-kill site. While Dr. Leland Bement of the University of Oklahoma was excavating the site, he also found two other bison kill-sites nearby. These other kill-sites have been discovered within 700 meters along the Beaver River. Archeologists utilized radiocarbon dating on the bison bone to discover that the kill-sites were about 12,000 years old. This was the time of the Clovis culture.

These traps are called “arroyo traps” and archaeologists say these are the oldest known method to killing a mass number of bison. Ancient hunters would chase bison into a dead-end gulch, which made it impossible for bison to escape. Eventually, the hunters would spear the bison to death. Every kill has been estimated to have between 30 and 60 bison. The bison would be butchered at the site. First, the legs were cut off and would be passed up to the people on the rim. Then, the people on the rim would strip the bone of meat. Finally, the people in the gully would strip the meat off the carcass.

Currently, Kristen Carlson from the University of Oklahoma has been studying these sites. Carson says that the tools found in the sites show the transformation of tools from the Clovis culture to the Folsom tradition. Most likely, the kill-sites have been used generation after generation over the span of 800 years. This shows the ability for hunters to plan and coordinate such types of kill-sites.