ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the animal behavior and focuses on the two main prehistoric large game species, mammoth and bison, and the implication of their behavior on pedestrian hunting strategies. It emphasizes that the experimental butchering of bison and African elephants along with a number of other animal species including pronghorn, deer, elk, mountain sheep, domestic cattle, and domestic sheep has been instructive, and a background for a better understanding and appreciation of prehistoric butchering. The chapter discusses the several specific recent contributions to archaeological methodology that are beginning to have an effect on how we do archaeology and interpret prehistory: minimum analytical nodule analysis, a set of geochemical and molecular techniques, and geophysical applications. It presents a series of methods developed or modified by us, our students, or our colleagues specifically for the archaeological record of the Northwestern Plains and the adjacent Rocky Mountains.
