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Clovis Tradition <br />With the close of the Wisconsin Ice Age and the retreat of the mountain glaciers in <br />the Southern Rocky Mountains, generally warm, moist conditions prevailed. As the <br />generalized warming trend continued, the warm/moist conditions began to change. At the <br />lower elevations, dry/wet climatic fluctuations appear to have brought on drought conditions <br />between 11,200 and 9500 BC in the San Juan and Wyoming Basins, lowering the water table <br />and concentrating surface water into shrinking water holes. In other areas, especially the <br />higher terrain with its orographic uplifts, increased effective precipitation would have <br />produced a rise in the ground water tables, local lake levels, and the number of springs, as <br />well as an expansion of tall and short grass forage regions (Eckerle 1992). It follows that <br />where there was increased moisture and grass forage, game animals would increase and <br />prehistoric hunters would follow. This movement of animals probably brought the first <br />Paleoindian groups into the region. <br />The occupation of the region by the Clovis Tradition hunters appears to have been <br />rather ephemeral. The rugged, dissected, canyon environment of the area probably never <br />supported large, extensive herds of megafauna such as could be found on the Great Plains. <br />However, work by Agenbroad (1991), and Agenbroad and Mead (1987) indicate population <br />distributions of Pleistocene megafauna did exist, particularly around the confluences of the <br />Colorado and Green Rivers in southeast Utah. Whether such a population distribution may <br />have existed here in the valleys of the White and Yampa Rivers and their tributaries is <br />unknown. Species identified in southeastern Utah include mammoth, mylodont sloth, <br />Shasta ground sloth, horse, camel, bison, and such present day fauna as big horn sheep, deer <br />and bear (Agenbroad 1991). As a result, the Clovis Tradition occupation of the area was <br />probably by small groups exploiting a rather limited population of large mammals in lush <br />environments within the larger local canyons. However, to date there is no evidence of <br />large kill sites of megafauna in northwest Colorado, though such sites may be deeply buried <br />in the alluviums of the canyons and valleys. An analysis of site elevations in Utah by <br />Copeland and Fike (1988) indicates an average elevation for Clovis sites of about 5,740 feet. <br />However, the two isolated Clovis occurrences known from the Uncompahgre Plateau have <br />site elevations of 6,150 feet and 7,630 feet, well above the Utah average (Conner et al. <br />2011:5-5). Thus, both a canyonland and an upland elevation exploitation pattern may be <br />evident (c.f. Davis 1989; Copeland and Fike 1988; Schroedl 1991; Stanford and Day 1991, <br />Frison 1991). <br />Folsom Tradition <br />Evidence of the Folsom Tradition in the region is inconsequential. There are very <br />few data, and except for an isolated Bison antiquus skull reportedly found near the <br />confluence of the Colorado and Gunnison Rivers (p.c. Armstrong, 1992), there are no <br />recorded megafauna kill sites. Folsom projectile points are rare; there are a few finds <br />reported from private collections (with uncertain provenience), and regionally there are no <br />well documented sites. The extent to which megafauna may have contributed to the overall <br />subsistence pattern of local groups is still an open question. As with the Clovis Tradition, <br />15