DOCUMENT


The Buffalo Hump Site - Late Prehistoric Occupation in the Great Divide Basin, Wyoming

The Buffalo Hump site (48SW5057) is a multicomponent , prehistoric habitation camp located in the northeast quarter of Sweetwater County within the Great Divide Basin of southcentral Wyoming (Figure 1). During the fall of 1985 and spring of 1986, Archaeological Services of Western Wyoming College (ASWWC) conducted an extensive data recovery program at the site as part of the compliance requirements for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) right-of-way grants for Exxon's Bairoil/Dakota CO Pipeline, Section One, constructed from the Green River to Jeffrey City, Wyoming. The data recovery program resulted in the excavation of 318 m, which produced evidence of four occupations that occurred in the last 2000 years and represent the Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods. Evidence of cultural activity indicating a focus on collection and processing of plant seeds for food was recovered in the form of a number of hearth and roasting pit features and associated cultural remains. Documentation of four housepits, or pit structures, revealed the type of residence facilities used by the prehistoric inhabitants. The cultural and environmental data recovered from the investigations at the Buffalo Hump site contribute significantly to interpretations of the cultural history and prehistoric patterns of settlement and subsistence during the past 2000 years in the Great Divide Basin of Wyoming.

Document Type / Category
Cultural Resource Series
Document Collection
BLM Library
State/Office
National Office
Author
Harrell, Lynn L.
Publication Date
1989