The Mcintosh Fauna: Late Prehistoric Exploitation of Lake and Prairie Habitats in the Nebraska Sand Hills

A Central Plains tradition settlement (ca. AD 1300-1450) near Enders Lake in the Nebraska Sand Hills presents an opportunity to address questions about diet composition and seasonal faunal procurement. The documented exploitation of Sand Hills lake and prairie habitats also defines a previously unexplored element of Central Plains tradition subsistence economies. The latter portion of the Central Plains tradition coincided with the cool and arid Pacific climatic episode (AD 1200-1550). The Sand Hills region is noted historically as resilient to variability in temperature and precipitation; late prehistoric groups may have occupied the Sand Hills as a response to climatic fluctuation and food resource scarcity in other areas of the Central Plains.