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Prehistoric Background The following provides a brief discussion of each of the major prehistoric cultural/ temporal eras occurring during the past 12,000 years. Paleoindian Era North America’s first human explorers arrived near the close of the Pleistocene as early as 18,000 years ago traveling by passage along Beringia the continental land bridge between what is now Siberia and Alaska. As craniometric evidence has indicated, the immigrants were diverse in origin, identified as belonging to various populations found in Asia and along the Pacific Rim. Specifically, northern and central Asians, people who later occupied the Polynesian islands, and the Ainu who later resided on the islands of northern Japan have been identified as the earliest ancestors of the Native Americans. The numbers of these colonists was apparently small because evidence of the first incursions is scant. However, the fact that they rapidly spread across the continents of North and South America is found in excavations at Meadowcroft Rockshelter Pennsylvania (Adovasio et al. 1990) and at Monte Verde in Chile (Dillehay 1984), sites which date to about 18,000 and 14,000 years ago respectively. Consensus has emerged that the dating of Monte Verde is valid; however, the dating of Meadowcroft continues to be the subject of debate (Haynes 1980, 1992). Such finds suggest a pre-Clovis colonization of the Americas. The better documented later colonists to the Americas are termed Paleoindians. They were highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers that traversed broad territorial ranges. Evidence of their mobility is found in their provisioning of high quality lithic materials from distant quarries, production of portable tool-kits emphasizing wood and lithic processing while having low numbers of grinding tools, construction of short-term residences (occupied for a few weeks to a few months) with little evidence of food storage, and an economic focus on the hunting of Pleistocene megafauna. The Paleoindian period spanned 6,000 years from 13,500 - 6500 BC. They were hunters and gatherers who exploited seasonally available plant resources and hunted the last remnants of the herds of Pleistocene megafauna such as mammoth and Bison antiquus. Surface evidence in the form of diagnostic projectile points indicates five technological adaptations are present: Clovis Complex (ca. 11,200-10,900 BC), the Folsom Complex (ca. 10,900 -10,000 BC), and the Cody Complex or Plano Tradition (ca. 9000 - 6300 BC) followed changes in the climatic conditions. Overlapping the Folsom and Cody periods is the Foothill-Mountain Complex, dating ca. 9500-7000 BC (Frison 1991:67-71, 75, 80). Currently, data from the early Paleoindian period is limited in Northwest Colorado, and excavation data is nearly non-existent. Based upon surface finds representing the late Paleoindian period, three co-traditions appear to be operating in the region: the Plano Tradition of the Great Plains; the Foothill-Mountain Complex of Southern Rocky Mountains; and, a Paleoarchaic Tradition with links to the Great Basin Stemmed Point Complex. It is not until ca. 7000 BC that stronger indications appear for this period with a few radiocarbon dates. 14