Thesis
Tracing Bighorn Sheep in the Pend Oreille Valley, Washington State
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
05/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000006952
Abstract
Bighorn sheep are an endangered species in North America with only 18 herds located in eastern Washington State. One of these is a small herd on Hall Mountain in the Sullivan Lake area of the Pend Oreille Valley. Conservation efforts of the herd have been ongoing for decades and in 2016 the Kalispel Tribe of Indians aided in the effort, however future involvement is under review. Utilizing a palaeobiological conservation framework, I analyze questions about procurement strategies that may have been implemented in the past and why they were not potentially included as a subsistence resource for the entire Kalispel Tribe ethnographically and ethnohistorically. Utilizing ethnographic data and archaeological investigations conducted by the Kalispel Natural Resources Department, Cultural Resources Program over the course of 10 years, I analyze bighorn sheep protein residues from identified on artifacts from 75% of sampled sites (N=12) along the Pend Oreille River as a zooarchaeological study. The antiquity of this pattern (1500 to 200 years before present [BP]) indicates that this was not a mere fluke of recovery, but rather a pattern of subsistence and a normal component of family provisioning. To explain these findings, I developed archaeological expectations based on a logistical model of bighorn sheep procurement and processing. In conclusion, I discuss solutions as to what this could mean for future conservation efforts for the bighorn sheep on Hall Mountain, uncover potential biases, and future avenues of research.
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Details
- Title
- Tracing Bighorn Sheep in the Pend Oreille Valley, Washington State
- Creators
- Tara K. McLaughlin
- Contributors
- Shannon Tushingham (Chair)Andrew Duff (Committee Member)Erin Thornton (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Anthropology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 195
- Identifiers
- 99901125140201842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis