THE BUHL BURIAL - A PALEOINDIAN WOMAN FROM SOUTHERN IDAHO

In January 1989 highway workers encountered human skeletal remains in a gravel quarry in south-central Idaho near the town of Buhl. Excavati on revealed rile remains of a young Paleoindian women, 17-21 :years of age nr the rime of death, with craniofacial attributes similar to oth er North American Indian and East Asian populations. She was buried in windblown and colluvial sediments immediately overlying Bonneville fl ood gravel. Grave goods include a large stemmed biface, an eyed needle , and a bone implement of unknown function. Isotopic analysis suggests a diet of meat and fish, including anadromous fish. Radiographs show numerous periods of dietary stress throughout the woman's childhood. A MS (accelerator mass spectrometry) dating indicates ait age of 10,675 +/- 95 B.P., and geomorphological studies verify this single radiocarb on date suggesting it is the burial's minimum age. Following Idaho Sta te law, the skeleton was claimed by the Shoshone-Bannock tribes of Ida ho and reburied.