Laserfiche WebLink
short period of frost-free days, and low winter temperatures (USDA SCS 1982). The <br />optimum growing season for native plants is May-June, during which time temperatures <br />average around 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit. Frosts occur frequently between mid-September <br />and early June, resulting in a growing season of roughly 45-100 days (ibid.; Hurlbett <br />1976:7). <br />For much of the year, the climate of the study area is cool and dry; only during the <br />mid-winter months is the climate severe enough to have limited prehistoric occupation <br />(Jennings 1975: 20). Summers can be hot and, by late June, many of the smaller drainages <br />of the area have ceased to flow. However, all portions of the project area are within <br />approximately four kilometers of either Yellow Creek or Ryan Gulch. <br />Because of the short growing season and poor soil conditions, it is doubtful that <br />prehistoric inhabitants practiced horticulture, probably subsisting by hunting and gathering <br />instead. Faunal resources are excellent in the Piceance Basin–the mule deer herd is the <br />largest migratory herd in the United States and numerous small mammals thrive in the sage <br />shrubland and pinyon-juniper. Vegetal resources in and around the study area are also <br />plentiful. Pinyon, goosefoot/amaranth, juniper, sagebrush, saltbush, greasewood, prickly <br />pear, and Indian ricegrass are all known to have been exploited by natives (Elmore 1976). <br />In addition to yielding food, fuel, and raw materials, the pinyon/juniper forest was <br />probably the main source of shelter. Other shelter may have been afforded by the small <br />sandstone outcrops scattered throughout the study area. <br />Aside from antler, bone, and wood, there is locally little material available for tool- <br />making. Much of the exposed rock of the study area is sandy and rather friable and, judging <br />from the lithic artifacts identified during the present survey, it was not a preferred material <br />for prehistoric tool manufacture. Also, as Jennings (1975: 14) points out, cryptocrystalline <br />inclusions are rare in these sandy lower Uinta deposits, so it is likely that lithic tool-making <br />materials were imported. <br />It is probable that, at least on a seasonal basis, prehistoric people were attracted to <br />the study area by its bountiful vegetal and faunal resources. It is almost certain that hunting <br />and foraging formed the basis of the aboriginal subsistence pattern in this area. Historic <br />Euro-American land use of the area included ranching, which involved the collection of <br />juniper poles for fencing and pinyon timbers for building; the cutting and limbing of these <br />trees was highly evident throughout the study area. Presently, the area is being grazed by <br />cattle and sheep, hunted for wild game, and explored for mineral resources including oil <br />shale, nahcolite, and oil and natural gas. <br />8