CWC Teton Talk: ‘They killed them as they needed.’ An Introduction to the Wiggins Fork Bison Jumps Complex Project Absaroka Mountains, Wyoming

The Wiggins Fork Bison Jumps Complex near Dubois, Wyoming, is an enormous, eighteen square mile system of a dozen interlocking driveline funnels leading to seven jump sites where prehistoric hunters stampeded whole herds of buffalo over steep, fatal scarps. The presence of fetal bones in the stratified bone beds and written ethnohistoric accounts indicate that the jumps were often used to obtain enough meat to feed entire villages during the long, cold winter months. Several large tepee ring village sites and a large prayer or ceremonial area are part of the complex. Optically stimulated luminescence dating indicates that in addition to being more elaborate, this massive complex is also thousands of years older than other buffalo jumps in Wyoming. Perhaps most interesting, the cultural remains in this complex offer suggestions of selective harvesting and selective breeding, in other words, nascent domestication. We know when and where animals around the world were domesticated, but there is little or no surviving evidence to shed light on how that process occurred. Except here.

Todd Guenther brings a wealth of experience through his passion for anthropology and through his past work experience.

Guenther has worked for the Office of Wyoming State Archaeologist, a curator for South Pass City State Historic site and has been the director at Lander Pioneer Museum.

Having lived in Wyoming for almost 40 years, his love for the state and its history is brought to life in the classroom and through field experience in some of Wyoming’s most beautiful areas. Guenther has worked at CWC for more than 12 years and he enjoys working on projects in the backcountry with students.

Degrees and Accomplishments

● Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology/Archaeology, University of Wyoming.

● Master of Arts in American Studies (Anthropology/Archaeology), University of Wyoming.

● Awards for best-published research articles from the Oregon-California Trail Association and the State Historical Societies of Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota.