I realized I had read about persistence hunting, but mostly in Africa and thousands of years ago. I imagine snares and traps may have been common, as well as fishing, but I have no idea if/how bigger game were hunted. Were they really talented archers/spear throwers? I know that gathering made up the larger amount of their diet, but how much hunting actually happened? I'm especially interested in groups who lived primarily away from the coasts, like the Plains Indians (that's what we called them in school, not sure if it's the preferred term).
Thanks!
Buffalo jumps were a common harvest technique on the plains from Alberta, Canada to New Mexico, USA. The earliest buffalo jump documented in North America is the Olsen-Chubbuck site. It was dated at 10,000 years ago. This was a fairly easy technology where multiple parties stampeded bison over cliffs using a variety of hazing techniques. Once the animals had fallen they harvested them after dispatching the wounded animals. This is simply one technology employed. Large game was taken using still hunting, hunting on horseback and employing a variety of other means. Plains natives were excellent bow hunters and archaeological data suggests that they made effective use of the atlatl (spear thrower) prior to adoption of the bow around two thousand years ago.
As to how much hunting took place, I do not have the capacity to quantify that for any particular group, but hunting was very important for a large number of Plains tribes.