ees aye TIBER RESERVOIR BASIN—MILLER 253 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 
One outstanding feature of the site is the noticeable absence of bison 
and deer caudal bones. Articulated sections of bison were plentiful, 
and the absence of the caudal bones is a feature noted at various kill 
sites attributable to Early Man as well as to later hunting groups. 
Apparently when an animal was skinned the tail was not removed 
from the hide, possibly because it was easier to sever the tail near the 
pelvis than to split the hide to remove it. The latter procedure prob- 
ably was followed when the hide was being tanned at a more permanent 
camp. 
Evidence from the testings showed that the occupational levels were 
located on the side of a gradual slope. The greatest depth of the 
deposits, formed by alluviation of the adjacent hills and by aeolian 
action, lay to the south of the site in the immediate vicinity of the 
steeply cut and eroded bluffs. This depth became gradually shaliower 
in direct proportion to the distance traversed away from the bluffs, so 
that at a distance of around 2,000 feet the deposits were close to the 
present surface. At the time of the cultural deposits the site was 
intermittently wet and dry. This was indicated not only by the 
imprints of bison hoofs which had penetrated into a sublying stratum 
during wet intervals, but also by the presence of cracks that had 
formed in the clay strata as they became almost rock-hard through 
prolonged dry spells. The site was never permanently occupied, but 
only during certain seasons of the year when hunting parties went 
there to kill bison as the animals made use of a natural ford across 
the Marias River. During these temporary occupancies the people 
killed not only bison but also deer, white-tail jackrabbits, an occasional 
elk, and wolf. There the flesh was cut and hacked from the bones and 
prepared for transportation to the permanent villages. Bones were 
split to extract the marrow, and all were probably wrapped in the 
skins of the animals, with the attached tail portions, and taken away. 
Camp debris was at a minimum. A great many fires were built over 
the area, possibly for smoking and drying the meat. 
In the beginning simple and rock-filled hearths, together with ashes, 
charcoal, bones, a few sherds, and some stone and bone artifacts, were 
deposited upon a dark-gray clay layer approximately 8 feet below 
the present ground level. Later a number of sterile strata accumu- 
lated above this deposit, and at a mean depth of 4.5 feet from the 
present surface another series of simple and rock-filled hearths were 
constructed. Other evidences of human occupancy were scanty and 
consisted mostly of fragments of animal bones and small chips of 
obsidian, jasper, chalcedony, and chert, indicating chipping areas. 
The lower level contained, in addition to fractured and whole bones, 
