The Meeteetse Museums will be butchering a bison with stone tools at the end of October. The event is part of the Meeteetse Museums' ongoing Bison of the Bighorn Basin Projectwhere the museum is collecting and researching historic bison skulls found in the area.
Amy Phillips, the museums' director of education and programs, said bison butchering with stone tools is a form of experimental archaeology.
"We are trying to learn about practices and tool use that are no longer in common practice," she said. "We're interested in any marks that can show up on the cranium that might exist in other bison that we have measured in the project".
The bones from this event will be added to the museum's comparative collection, while other parts of the bison will be given to the Eastern Shoshone bison education project and the hide will be auctioned off.
Phillips said she hopes this event can help people get a deeper appreciation for traditional subsistence practices like this one. The museums are welcoming the public to help butcher the bison, but they must sign upbefore October 5 and pay a $50 fee.
