BIG BONE LICK

BOONE COUNTY, KENTUCKY

 

ANIMAL REMAINS REPORTED

 

complied by

R. A. Davis


Table of contents

Preface
Notes
Historic (= "Zone A")
Recent Prehistoric (= "Zone B")
Ancient Prehistoric (= "Zone C" and older)
About this web-page -- Caveat lector !


PREFACE

The following chronology was compiled from various sources. In some instances, different publications give different versions of the same "information". Hence, in some cases, the specific source of particular information given is indicated in the format (Jackson, 1962, p. 126); this means that the source is on page 126 in Jackson's 1962 publication, as cited in the bibliography web-page.

If you have any suggestions, corrections, or other comments, please, direct them to me.

R. A. Davis
Professor of Biology and Geology
College of Mount St. Joseph
5701 Delhi Road
Cincinnati, Ohio, 45233-1670


Notes

1.     "Zone" designations are those used by the University of Nebraska excavators in their 1962-1966 excavations.

2.     None of the remains are any more ancient than Late Pleistocene. Nebraska did a radio-carbon date on a ground-sloth -- 18,000 BP (BP = before present; see also the radio-carbon dates listed on the Bibliography web-page.).

3.     The information is summarized from a number of sources. Some of the reports used are quite old, so some identifications might not be correct or up to date.

 

Symbols

*

=

the type-specimen of the species was found at Big Bone

**

=

the type-specimen may have come from there, but data are unclear.

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HISTORIC ("Zone A")

 

taxonomic position Genus/species common name
Artiodactyla Bison bison present-day American bison
Bos taurus domestic cattle
Odocoileus virginianus whitetail deer
Sus scrofa European domestic hog
     
Carnivora Canis familiaris domestic dog
     
Perissodactyla Equus caballus domestic horse
     
Primates Homo sapiens human being
(artifacts only)

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RECENT PREHISTORIC ("Zone B")

 

taxonomic position Genus/species common name
Artiodactyla Bison bison present-day American bison
Cervus elaphus
canadensis
wapiti ("American elk")
Odocoileus sp. deer
     
Carnivora Canis familiaris domestic dog
     
Perissodactyla Equus caballus domestic horse
     
Primates Homo sapiens human being
(artifacts only)

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ANCIENT PREHISTORIC ("Zone C" and older)

 

taxonomic position Genus/species common name
Artiodactyla * Bison antiquus (Leidy) "antique bison"
* Bootherium bombifrons (Harlan) "woodland musk-ox"
* Cervalces scotti (Lydekker) "elk-moose" (sometimes called "stag-moose")
Rangifer sp. caribou
     
Carnivora Ursus sp. bear
     
Edentata Megalonyx jeffersonii (Desmarest) "Jefferson's ground-sloth"
** Paramylodon harlani (Owen)
(sometimes known as Glossotherium harlani; originally named Mylodon harlani)
"Harlan's ground-sloth"
     
Perissodactyla Equus sp. cf. E. complicatus (Owen) horse
** Tapirus haysii Leidy tapir
(The original specimen of Tapirus haysii, a tooth, apparently was collected at Big Bone, but it probably is not actually from a tapir, but, rather, from a juvenile "American mastodon". If so, then, Tapirus haysii is a junior synonym of Mammut americanum.)
     
Proboscidea Mammut americanum (Kerr) "American mastodon"
Mammuthus columbi (Falconer) "Columbian mammoth"
Mammuthus primigenius (Blumenbach) "woolly mammoth"

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ABOUT THIS WEB-PAGE -- Caveat lector !

This web-page was constructed using MS-FrontPage and its version of html. The results have been previewed by way of MS Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, things that look fine when viewed with Internet Explorer sometimes look rather peculiar when viewed with Netscape. For example, there can be unexpected and unpredictable changes in the size, shape, or style of type, or some combination of these. Moreover, sometimes different versions of Internet Explorer do not present the same web‑page in the same way; for example, hyphens in one version can mutate into empty rectangles in another. Alas!

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22 November 1999, 3 May & 18 October 2000; 25 February 2001; 03 October 2002; 10 February 2003; 21 August 2003; 01 November 2008