Question about bone artifacts..

[archer66]

I've been enjoying all of the bone artifacts posted especially those of larson...

My question is what time period do you believe most of these are from? I find the occaisional rib bone in my creek hunting but I believe they are deer rib bones and are fairly recent. How long do bones last exposed to moisture in humid areas like Missouri? For instance are larson's finds preserved due to drier conditions in South Dakota or are they more recent thus still intact? I don't have any field sites to hunt yet so all my finds are in creeks...thus far all I have is stone artifacts. No jewelry, no game pieces, no bones. I did find and discard what I think might have been a discoidal game piece back in February. I carried it around for an hour or so after I found it before I decided it wasn't an artifact. A few days later I found examples of discoidal game pieces on the net. Well long story short it had rained buckets since the day I discarded it and even though I knew generally where I left it, I was unable to find it.....anyway back to the topic of bones....

 

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[SoIll]

There is some bone from Mo, especially from dry rock shelters and caves. Around here you have to dig it though. When it hits airs it rapidly decomposes. That happened a long time ago in the fields around here. I have heard of campsites that will be jet black dirt, and if you dig it it's really sandy and (they say) the greases from many cooking fires will "waterproof" the organic artifact contained in it. Of course the more recent sites like Ft. Ancient and Mississippian will yield more bone.

 

[The Grim Reaper]

I can't speak for others, but all of my bone finds are from the Ft Ancient period and are dated from around 950 to 1650 AD in my area.

I think larsons are from the Mandan culture and are a lot newer. If I'm not mistaken I believe Lewis and Clarke made contact with the Mandan Indians on their adventure.

 

[centfladigger]

the bone dig site I have on the banks of an old river course are woodland because of the hernando and safety harbor points I find with them. All the others we find in the rivers mostly archaic through woodland

 

[larson1951]

when Lewis and Clark came though the dakotas most of the mandans were dead from small pox

 

[coteau]

I can't speak for others, but all of my bone finds are from the Ft Ancient period and are dated from around 950 to 1650 AD in my area.

I think larsons are from the Mandan culture and are a lot newer. If I'm not mistaken I believe Lewis and Clarke made contact with the Mandan Indians on their adventure.

The Plains Village culture started about A.D. 1000. Prehistoric Mandan sites are called Middle Missouri tradition sites (A.D. 1000-1400). I believe the majority of Larson's village artifacts are protohistoric Mandan and the Arikara and Sioux probably occupied the same sites during historic times.

The ancestral Mandans participated in long-distance trade networks with Mississippian societies beginning around A.D. 1050. The Mississippian chunkey game was also played by the Mandans. The Mandans numbered in the thousands during prehistoric times and lived in large, fortified, permanent villages. Warfare was common…

There's a good article on Wikipedia about the Mandans during the historic times. The article doesn't get into much about the prehistoric Mandan though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandan_Indians