l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



the skinning and cutting up of the meat must Imve been clone where 

 the slaughter took place, in this instance at no great distance from the 

 camp. The situation at the time of occupancy would have been favor- 

 able to the brush-blind type of hunting. A slough or marshy spot had 

 existed in the old valley floor not far from the point where the bones 

 were found — this was demonstrated in one of the Denver Museum 

 test pits. A screen placed on the slope above would have made an 

 ideal place to await the coming of the bison. The nature of the soil 

 layer indicated that there was fairly heavy vegetation around the water 

 hole, probably coarse grass and reeds, which would protect the meat 

 from dirt and sand during the process of skinning and cutting up an 

 animal killed at this place. The handling of the carcass no doubt 

 presented a problem of some difficulty, as there were no mechanical 

 means for transporting it or to facilitate turning and lifting. Such 

 work had to be done by manpower alone. The only tools available for 

 the dismembering operation were those of stone or perhaps bone. 



The nearest approximation to the description of such an under- 

 taking is probably that by Castaneda. The latter was the chronicler 

 for the Coronado expedition, which penetrated into the bufifalo area 

 in 1540. Members of that party had an opportunity to observe the 

 Indians under conditions comparable to those of earlier centuries. In 

 his account of the skinning of the bison Castaneda said : " They cut 

 the hide open at the back and pull it off at the joints, using a flint as 

 large as a finger, tied in a little stick, with as much ease as if working 

 with a good iron tool." " 



Other documents, one attributed to a friar accompanying the 

 Coronado party," one by Luxan," and Fray Juan Augustin Morfi's 

 History of Texas," give good accounts of the use to which various 

 parts of the animal were put. The skins were employed in the making 

 of tents, clothes, footgear, and rope. The sinews were used to make 

 thread for sewing their clothes and tents, and for wrapping shafts. 

 The stomachs served as pitchers and vessels, the intestines as con- 

 tainers of fat and of marrow. Awls were made from the bones. The 

 horns were cut into spoons, cups, and ornaments. The hoofs were 

 converted into glue to aid in fastening projectile points in shafts. 

 The brains were used in tanning and softening the hides. In view of all 

 this, it is little wonder that the bulk of the bone material from the 

 site consists of scraps and splinters. Even in the bison pit, which 



" Winship, 1896, p. 528. 



" Winship, 1896, p. 570. 



" Hammond and Rev, 1929, pp. 



" Castaneda, 1935, p. 67. 



