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Foetal animal remains present the opportunity to investigate seasonal prey mortality in archaeological contexts. Mortality seasons may be inferred by adding a gestation age, as estimated from foetal skeletal growth curves, to a known conception period. For example, given an October conception period, the remains of a 6‐month‐old foetal animal suggest deposition in April. However, three problems complicate these investigations: (1) Conception periods in animal populations are generally not discrete windows or dates but rather distributions of events though a calendar year; (2) variation in foetal development implies that any given skeletal state corresponds to a range of gestation ages, and (3) evolutionary changes in a taxon's foetal growth may make modern growth curves poor analogues for past populations. We develop a probabilistic method to address the first two problems and partially address the third problem. The method is specific to early Holocene bison in North America (~10 000 to 8000 cal. BP), and we provide example applications: the Horner II Site, with one foetal humerus, and the Casper Site, with five foetal elements. Results for Horner II indicate that the foetal humerus is consistent with the fall or winter mortality season inferred from bison dentitions at the site, whereas results for Casper suggest a spring mortality event or events distinct from most of the site's adult bison specimens. This may reflect real seasonality variability at Casper, although methodological assumptions warrant caution for this interpretation; Future work should focus on testing these assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Perry cache contains 161 chipped stone items and includes an array of formal and informal tools. Discovered in the 1960s along the banks of the Little Thompson River in northern Colorado, the Perry cache is distinct from many other Colorado lithic caches not only for the quantity of items but also for the diversity of tool types and the raw materials used to manufacture the items. The cache includes five patterned bifaces, eight unpatterned bifaces, 24 scrapers, two spokeshaves, a knife and a graver, and 10 utilized flakes, as well as 110 flakes. Twenty-eight different raw material groups are identified. This paper summarizes the assemblage diversity by quantifying the different number of tool and flake classes. These data are then used to examine the raw material diversity of the assemblage. The results of this analysis show that finished tools were both brought to and manufactured on site, and then ultimately deposited in the cache. Additionally, tools were likely manufactured on site and carried away. The artifacts appear to have been cached with the anticipation of future need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lutes site (5LO830) is a burial locale containing two adult interments situated along the South Platte River of Logan County, Colorado. The site was excavated by Colorado State University archaeologists in 1976; however, neither a final report nor a site form was originally prepared. In this article, the authors present verbatim a manuscript written shortly after the excavation. We then evaluate this manuscript, based on the presented information as well as associated photo documentation. Four Hanna dart points were found during the excavation, representative of the McKean Complex and dating to the Middle Archaic era. Three of the projectile points were found in direct association with one of the individuals. The points might have been interred as funerary objects, or perhaps less likely, the projectile points reflect evidence of prehistoric violence. Comparison with other Archaic period burials from the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains suggests that the Lutes site represents an uncommon occurrence, that of a multiple burial containing associated projectile points. Unfortunately, the evidence at hand does not allow for clear determination for a cause of death. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]