Braying Llama Site Analysis

The Braying Llama site begins with Stratum 6 which shows evidence of a hunter-gatherer society. There are no signs of agricultural practices or domestication, however, there are bones of animals that would have commonly been hunted for food. The 35 total animal bones either represent a small hunter-gatherer society or a seasonal hunting ground. Most the debitage is Blue Mountain obsidian which shows contact with other people and a preference for obsidian to make tools. There were not many tools excavated and no evidence of projectile points meaning the people most likely hunted by hand. Stratum 5 shows development into a sedentary society with signs of permanent hearths. As well as developing a permanent society, they start to expand their diets to include fish that they

Stratum 1 lacks a lot of information. There are no signs of permanent settlement, but there is a burial mound which suggests that the area held some kind of importance. Analysis shows that they consumed plants such as wheat, however, there is no evidence at the site that they practiced agriculture. The faunal remains of eagles and mountain lions suggests that they hunted quite a distance from the plains settlement. Their projectile points had evolved, but there was no evidence that they made them or where they would have been made. Even their knives were made of material foreign to the area. The bronze axe heads imply that they had developed casting methods, although there is no evidence of that either. It is more likely that the people who lived here moved from somewhere else and probably did not stay very long. The bodies in the burial mound being arranged around two of them suggests that those two had a higher social status which is compounded by the fact that the artifacts were associated with them. However, there is no evidence to tell exactly what their status was or how they ended up buried