The Concept of an Altithermal Cultural Hiatus in Northern Plains Prehistory

Abstract

The concept of a cultural hiatus, when it is believed the Northern Plains was essentially abandoned by prehistoric bison‐hunting cultures because of extremely adverse climatic conditions in the interval 5500–3000 B.C. has become generally entrenched in archaeological thought and literature. However consideration of the current palynological data and climatic models indicate that a grassland environment which supported a viable bison population existed at this time. Examination of the archaeological data indicates the lack of evidence for human occupation is a result of sampling, geological variables and nonrecognition of the artifact types in surface collections. It is concluded that the area supported a viable human population at this time whose primary adaptive strategy centered around the communal hunting of bison.