Research conducted by archaeologist Ken Cannon could reverse the prevailing notion that bison are a minor component of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. Archaeological evidence suggests that bison may have prehistorically played a larger role in the area than previously envisioned, according to Cannon.

Cannon is the principal investigator of an archaeological dig currently under excavation on the National Elk Refuge. Cannon and his research assistants are exploring an 800-year-old bison bone bed that can potentially reveal information pertinent to contemporary bison management decisions.

Because bison ecology has become a heated topic in the development of bison management plans in the Yellowstone ecosystem, it is important to better understand the role of bison in pre-European Jackson Hole, Cannon said. "It may be time to dust off the model of the local prehistoric economy of Jackson Hole and reassess the role of bison in it," Cannon wrote in a research article.

Cannon, 43, plans to extensively research the prehistoric record of bison in the greater Yellowstone area and reveal his findings in a dissertation by 2003 for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln geography program. With permission from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cannon has set up camp for a few weeks this summer at an area called the Goetz site, in the northeastern region of the National Elk Refuge. Amidst sagebrush and rock outcroppings along the foothills, the site was discovered in 1971 while Refuge staff were trying to increase the flow of a nearby spring. Butchered bison bones and stone tools were found in the area. After minimal excavation, the site was abandoned and "became an archaeological myth of the area," Cannon said, until he rediscovered it last summer.

Cannon found a minimum of four bison that date back 800 years. What makes the site valuable, Cannon said, is that it represents a multiple bison kill, which, in contrast to the bone fragments he has found in other areas, can give him a larger picture of a herd. Because the bison were killed and butchered in the same spot, the site could also shed light on the role bison played in the sustenance of hunter-gatherer groups at the time, he said. Cannon does the mapping, excavation, sample collection and sediment processing at the site with help from two other archaeologists and nine volunteers.

The volunteers come from the Earthwatch Institute, a nonprofit environmental organization sponsoring Cannonâs project. Because federal funding for archaeological projects is limited, the field of study must depend on grassroots support, Cannon said. "More money is spent on dietetic dog food than on archaeology," he confided. The Earthwatch volunteers are instrumental in allowing Cannon to break ground with his research ÷ literally.

The volunteers spend most of the day systematically digging up soil, searching for artifacts and bones. They have found bison carpals and teeth; an antler from a spike buck that appears to have been used as a digging tool for root crops; quartzite rock that has been reduced to bifaces, which are used to fashion tools or weapons; a projectile point that probably was once used to hunt game; and more.

Bones can talk

"Archaeologically derived data can reveal information that other methods of research cannot," Cannon said. Much of what we know about bison is based on historic records, which provide information that is more anecdotal and less systematic, and modern studies, which are limited to small, isolated populations that do not characterize the speciesâ original range, Cannon said.

Cannon hopes that the bones his team has found are preserved well enough to produce DNA samples, which would indicate the bisonâs genetic makeup. Analyzing the genetic diversity of bison when they roamed an undisturbed habitat could be critical in developing a future bison management plan, Cannon said. There haven't been any studies conducted on culling ÷ removing bison from a herd when the herd is deemed too big ÷ and how it affects the bison gene pool, Cannon said.

By determining how bison have evolved and adapted over time, Cannon hopes to determine what the distant future may hold for them, especially in the event of a major climate change. If bones from other animals are discovered at the site, they could answer some questions about how bison fit into the animal community, and what kind of role they played in the area's ecological makeup.

Carol Emrick, an Earthwatch volunteer from Denver, confided that Cannon's research intrigued her in part for political reasons. Recent expansion of the bison population and its subsequent migration out of federal lands has raised concerns among federal managers, local ranchers and conservation groups. "I'm interested in the stories that bones tell," Emrick said." We just need the evidence of (bison) so that they have a stronger hold in the area. Maybe we can get these Montana ranchers to stop slaughtering them. I don't want to see them eliminated in favor of cattle."

Power of the past Cannon is no stranger to using an archaeological record to support modern management plans in the greater Yellowstone area. When wolf reintroduction into Yellowstone National Park was a topic of hot debate, Cannon sent Congress archaeological evidence that disputed the argument that wolves had never been part of the local ecosystem. With regards to the presence of bison in the greater Yellowstone area, there are two opposing views, Cannon said.

One school of thought finds bison to be a minor component of the Jackson Hole fauna and too rare to ever have provided a stable food source, based on a paucity of bison found in the archaeological record and the low and fluctuating numbers of modern herds. On the other hand, some believe that there were once substantial numbers of bison during all seasons, Cannon said.

Since the National Park Service implemented a noninterventionist approach to natural resource management in the mid-1960s, bison numbers have increased greatly, which may indicate that the region naturally supports a rather large population of bison, Cannon said. Additional information procured from 30 archaeological and three paleontological sites in the greater Yellowstone area indicates that bison may have been more prevalent than originally imagined, he said. The Goetz site provides an opportunity to support that theory with hard evidence, he said. "One site wonât give you all the answers, but it will provide you with pieces of the puzzle," he said.

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