Mississippian Hunting and Butchering Patterns: Bone from the Vista Shelter, 23SR-20, Missouri

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Abstract
Vista Shelter, on the northwestern margin of the Ozark Highlands in southwestern Missouri, is identified as a hunting station of the prehistoric Mississippian Steed-Kisker focus. This shelter, suitably located for the exploitation of water-dwelling, forest, and prairie-dwelling species, was used by small groups engaged in deer and bison hunts in prairie areas far removed from their riverine settlements near present-day Kansas City. The bone frequencies at the site suggest that animals were killed nearby, cuts of meat were taken to the shelter and processed, and dried meat was returned home. This hunting station helps explain the rarity of refuse bone in the permanent villages, since many animals were butchered and processed far from the home villages. These conclusions are related to prairie and plains hunting and butchering patterns, and the significance of food bone in archaeological sites is thereby emphasized.