In 2003, a peat bog on the east side of Orcas Island was being excavated for a pond when workers discovered the ancient remains of an unknown animal. The bones remained unidentified until two years later, when archaeologist Stephen Kenady was contacted about this rare find. They didn’t know how rare it was!
Ninety eight bones and fragments were recovered from the site, making this the most complete Bison antiquus skeleton ever uncovered. There were also remains from one other male, a female, and a juvenile at this site, although partial skeletons of ten other Bison antiquus skeletons have been found on Orcas. The relevancy of these discoveries lies primarily in their age and the markings on some bones, which are thought to have been caused by human hunters. Discover magazine ranked these findings as #10 of the top 100 worldwide scientific discoveries of 2008.
To understand why bison came to be on our isolated island, we need to travel thousands of years back in time to a much colder era. During the late Pleistocene period, a post-glacial land corridor was formed between the San Juans, Vancouver, and the mainland. This corridor was traversable by animals when water levels lowered and glaciers retreated.
Some bones from the most intact bison found in Olga indicate that human hunters killed or at least harvested meat from this specimen. The pattern of bone breakage, gouge marks, and condition and grouping of the bones indicate that humans did come into contact with this skeleton. The most important part of this discovery for scholars of early human migration is that this skeleton is 14,000 years old. This pre-dates the estimated arrival of Clovis people, previously thought to be the first human migrants to the Americas, by 800 years. Other discoveries in the Pacific Northwest that indicate pre-Clovis human activity are the Manis mastodon and Paisley caves in Oregon. This bison is now part of a growing body of evidence that contributes to internationally debated theories about the earliest human migration on our continent.
Bison antiquus is a now-extinct giant bison, which likely roamed plains and open woodlands in the southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and Canada. The estimated body size for an adult male is approximately two thousand pounds in weight, 6.9 feet in height, and fifteen feet in head and body length. This type of bison is in between the larger Bison latifrons and modern-day bison in size. It was more agile than B. latifrons and was able to run and move quickly. Bison antiquus had strong herding tendencies, though shared its environment with other ancient mammals such as giant ground sloths (which have also been found in the San Juans), horses, camels, and mammoths.
By Iris Parker-Pavitt
Further resources:
Read the Bison Report from Quaternary International
“14,000-year-old Bison skull found on Orcas X-rayed for stone weapon fragments” Islands Sounder Article
“Long-Horned Bison & Ancient Bison” fact sheet from the San Diego Zoo
“Ayer Pond (Washington State, USA): Pre-Clovis Megafaunal Hunting in Pacific Northwest” article about Ayer Pond
“The Bison at Ayer Pond on Orcas Island is Archeological” Northwest Coast Archeology article