Dinwoody Bison Jump: Communal Hunting At 11,000 Feet in the Wind River Mountains, The

The Dinwoody Bison Jump (48FR7682) is located at 11,000 ft. overlooking Dinwoody Canyon in the Wind River Mountains. This is extraordinarily high compared to the fewer than 30 other documented bison jumps and pounds recorded in SHPO files. Thirty years ago, the conventional wisdom was that prehistoric Native Americans (excluding a few sheep eater Indians) avoided the high country. Research since that time has documented extensive use of Wyoming's alpine regions by hunter gatherers. The Dinwoody Jump suggests another previously unrecognized adaptation at elevation-that of communal bison hunting. A 600 acre series of campsites dating between Folsom and Early Contact is adjacent to the jump. This paper presents the results of the Central Wyoming College Field School 2016 field work and lab analysis of the paleoecology and cultural resources of the Dinwoody site complex.