POLLEN, PHYTOLITH, MACROFLORAL, PROTEIN RESIDUE, FTIR ANALYSIS, AND AMS DATING FOR 24GA493 (HORSE BUTTE PENINSULA SITE) AND AMS DATING AND PROTEIN RESIDUE ANALYSIS FOR 24GA416 (REAS PASS SITE), MONTANA

Sites 24GA493 (Horse Butte Peninsula Site) and 24GA419 (Reas Pass Site) are located
in Gallatin County, southwestern Montana. Excavations of these sites is part of an on-going
effort to re-license the Hebgen Reservoir development along the Madison River near West
Yellowstone. Pollen analysis was conducted on samples collected stratigraphically from the
Reas Pass Site (24GA419) to provide paleoenvironmental information for sediments from a
column that yielded a radiocarbon date of 8760 ± 20 BP near the base. In addition, pollen and
phytoliths were examined from several levels within a feature at this site, as well as from a
single piece of groundstone, in an effort to obtain information concerning plants that people
were processing. Macrofloral analysis of four levels within a single feature also was undertaken
to provide subsistence information concerning plant resources utilized by the site occupants.
The groundstone was examined for organic residues using Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectrometry (FTIR). Flaked lithics from both sites were extracted to recover protein residues
that might be identified to indicate what animals were killed or processed with these tools.