News Feature                                                            4/14/2008

The Itasca Bison Kill Site

About 8000 years ago, along Nicollet Creek, a tributary to Lake Itasca, a group of hunters and gatherers ambushed a large herd of a now extinct species of bison (Bison occidentalis). The quantities of bison and other animal bones along with several stone tools in lake marl below peat deposits were first discovered in 1937. Further excavations in 1963, 1964, and 1965 yielded additional bones, artifacts, and plant remains.  

Evidence suggests that anywhere from 25 to 100 people seasonally occupied this site during the fall and spring. It was probably a transitional site utilized while moving between summer and winter camps (summers out west on the prairie and winters in caves and wooded areas to the east).  The types of artifacts recovered from the lake marl below the peat deposits on the slopes adjacent to the actual kill site suggest use in the fall for bison hunting, as the animals migrated to their wintering grounds, and in the spring to hunt turtles and fish. Other activities evident from the camp location include meat processing, bone and stone tool manufacturing, hide preparation, and woodworking. 

Projectile points include bifaces and side-notched points that resemble those recovered from bison kill sites in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Other tools found at the site consisted of end and side scrapers, knives, choppers, perforators, gravers, hammer stones, and grinding stones.   

For additional information regarding cultural resources in Minnesota for NRCS, please contact Patrick McLoughlin, Cultural Resources Specialist at (651)-602-7907.

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