The Nighthawk Bison Jump: New Evidence for Recurrent Late Holocene Bison Jumping in the Southern Plains

Abstract Large-scale communal bison hunting via jumping is a renowned tactic best known from the northern Plains. In contrast, evidence for jumps in the southern Plains is sparse and controversial. The paucity of bison jumps in the southern Plains has been attributed by some to a lack of suitable precipices. Yet the eastern Caprock Escarpment of the Llano Estacado (in the Southern High Plains) presents numerous scarps suitable for bison jumping. Recent investigations at the Nighthawk site in Caprock Canyons State Park in the Texas Panhandle have revealed an exceptional record of at least seven discrete kill events spanning 3,000 years from the Late Archaic to Protohistoric periods. We present the results of 27 direct radiocarbon measurements on bone collagen and charcoal, reconstruct site formation processes, and describe the skeletal composition of each kill and lithic evidence from this long-term hunting facility. These new data challenge many long-held assumptions about the nature of bison jump hunting techniques in time and space.