Office of the Wyoming State Archaeologist

06/19/2026

For the past few weeks OWSA has been hard at work in the field at Willow Springs and over the last several days we have been slowly uncovering this upside down Bison antiquus cranium!

Bison antiquus is an ancestor of modern day bison that went extinct around 5,000 years ago. These animals were known to have a huge horn span and even incomplete, our skull clocks in just shy of 81 cm (or about 32 inches!). In addition to this cranium, we have also excavated an almost complete forelimb of this animal. While we have not had an opportunity to examine these remains for cut marks or other evidence of butchery we have been collecting a fairly large quantity of flakes and we look forward to getting this back to the lab for further analysis!

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. WyoCulturalTrustFund

06/12/2026

Today for our Artifact of the Week we are sharing an arrow shaft abrader. This tool is made out of a sandstone pebble and is one of only a few of these tools found at the Willow Springs Campsite.

Grooved abraders have been found across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains as far back as 10,000 years ago and are some of the earliest forms of ground stone technology. These tools generally served two purposes: sharpening or smoothing of the shaft of a dart or arrow. The U-shape of this particular abrader suggests it was probably used for smoothing to give the arrow a more uniform shape and diameter.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. WyoCulturalTrustFund

06/11/2026

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06/05/2026

Welcome back to the Willow Springs Artifact of the Week series! This week, we are featuring what OWSA considers to be most likely a hafted knife, but we would love to hear your opinions!

Hafting, or the addition of a wood or bone handle, offers several advantages in cutting, scraping, chopping, and piercing, both ergonomically and functionally. Hafted knives were commonly used in tandem with scrapers. Knives were often resharpened to prolong use, which could account for the curved tip of this knife. This knife was broken on what would have been the hafting end, which may have limited its use.

However, hafting can often be mistaken for retouch or usewear, so what do you guys think?

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources. Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund

05/29/2026

This week’s installment of the Willow Springs Artifact of the Week series is an end scraper! It’s made from a high-quality dark brown chert and in addition to the obvious scraper edge, there is also evidence of use-wear along the sides, indicating that it could have been used in multiple ways or was hafted.

Scrapers were primarily used for hide production. Before the tanning process could begin, scrapers were needed to remove any hair, flesh, or fat from the animal skin. The hide would then be used to make clothing, which is crucial for thermoregulation in these colder climates.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

05/22/2026

For this week’s installment of the Artifact of the Week series, we are featuring a Plains Woodland pottery sherd! The Willow Springs collection includes a variety of ceramic tradition types and the Plains Woodland is one of the more common types among the assemblage.

The Plains Woodland tradition dates to ca. 1,700 to 900 years ago and is most commonly identified by the cord-markings on the outside of the vessel. This was done by wrapping a cord around a paddle and using that to impress the texture of the cord into the surface of the vessel. Plains Woodland vessels were constructed with the slab accretion method, which involved molding patches of clay together by hand to form the vessel.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

05/15/2026

Today’s Willow Springs Artifact of the Week is the base of a Folsom point! This particular specimen was heavily patinated from exposure to the surface, giving it that white-cast appearance.

Folsom points span a wide range of the American West and date back to ca. 13,000 to 12,000 years ago. They are characterized by the iconic fluting up the entire face of the projectile point to make it easier to haft to a spear or atlatl dart. While not the most common type, Folsom points make a few appearances in the Willow Springs assemblage.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

05/09/2026

05/08/2026

Welcome back to the Artifact of the Week series! Continuing our exploration of Willow Springs projectile points is a corner-notched arrow point made of a light gray semi-translucent chert from the White River Formation.

Small, corner-notched arrow points are among the most common types in the Willow Springs collection, second only to the Plains Side-Notched. They are typically associated with the Plains regions of Colorado and Kansas, as well as other areas of the Plains. They are found in especially large numbers at the nearby Willow Springs bison pound and alpine game drives in the Colorado Front Range.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the
Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources.

05/01/2026

Up next for our Willow Springs Artifact of the Week series is another point collected in 1964. OWSA considers this a Plains Side-Notch arrow point of an interesting semi-translucent to white chert with orange inclusions.

Plains Side-Notched points are wide-spread across the plains and have been found from Nebraska to Wyoming up into Alberta and Saskatchewan. They replaced Prairie Side-Notched points in the Northern Plains around 750 years ago and were present until the historic period. These points are characterized by their triangular shape, deep notches and a straight or concave base. This point along with several others in the Willow Springs collection exhibit possible evidence of impact fractures on the tip.

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, a program of the Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources