Late Pleistocene Horse Hunting at the Wally's Beach Site (DhPg-8), Canada

Abstract

Evidence from the Wally's Beach site in southwestern Alberta indicates Pleistocene horses were hunted by Clovis age peoples. A number of artifacts are associated with a horse skeleton, including a cut-marked hyoid indicative of butchering and a flake projecting below one of the vertebrae that establishes the archaeological material is not intrusive. A large unmodified cobble apparently was used to mark the kill or anchor the cache. Six other finds of horse remains also have associated lithic artifacts. Horse behavior is explored to speculate on hunting strategy. It is concluded that humans and climate change probably contributed to the late Pleistocene extinction of North American horses.