Evidence for human modification of a Late Pleistocene bison (Bison sp.) bone from the Klondike District, Yukon Territory, Canada

Abstract

A 31 000 BP bison limb bone from Nugget Gulch near Dawson City, Yukon, shows a "ring crack" considered to be a human-made impact mark resulting in exposure of marrow. This bone is approximately contemporaneous with wolf, horse, and Dall sheep specimens found on an ancient Mid-Wisconsinan terrain surface at this locality. Similar ring cracks, also interpreted as human-made, have been noted on late-glacial bison bones from Engigstciak, Yukon, and Lost Chicken Creek, Alaska.