Bone Refuse and Insect Remains: Their Potential for Temporal Resolution of the Archaeological Record

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Abstract
The contents of a bone-filled pit from a Late Prehistoric period site in the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming, are inferred to represent the remains of a meal originally cooked in a skin container. The residue remained in the container, outside of the pit, for at least three weeks. Subsequently, but within a few weeks of cooking, the residue was dumped upside down into a pit which was then sealed with a sandstone slab. Preparation of the food and its disposal took place between June and September. The temporal resolution made possible by the analysis of the insect remains permits the inference that the site assemblage accumulated during two separate occupations. Such an inference affects how the site assemblage may be interpreted within the context of a settlement system.