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panels from whence it drew its name “Canyon Pintado” [Painted Canyon] from the journals <br />of the Dominguez-Escalante Expedition. Several definitive inventories have been <br />completed in the district including those by Gilbert Wenger (1956) of the University of <br />Colorado, and by the Laboratory of Public Archaeology at Colorado State University in <br />1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 (Creasman 1981a,b). <br />Hauck (1993:250) identifies several early Formative Era occupations of the Douglas <br />Creek area that range in date from ca AD 300 to AD 950. The early period dates derived <br />from sites 5RB3498 and 5RB454 (Hanging Hearth) include AD 320 ± 90 (Feature C <br />5RB3498) and AD 390 ± 70, respectively. Importantly, these features were found to have <br />significant amounts of pollen and macro-flora that indicated the inhabitants were actively <br />processing chenopod-amaranth (Cheno-Ams) seeds. Since Cheno-Ams thrive in disturbed <br />soils, Hauck concludes that these plants were being manipulated, if not outright cultivated, <br />in a growing patch. At 5RB3498, dates from six separate short-term occupations were <br />acquired that ranged up to AD 970 ± 40, and all the thermal features contained evidence of <br />Cheno-Am processing. Hearth features and strata in sites 5RB2828 and 5RB2829 had a <br />much tighter range of dates which fall within the more traditional range of sites classified as <br />“early Fremont” by Hauck. Those sites yielded 12 radiocarbon dates between AD 560 ± 80 <br />and AD 810 ± 50; some of which had associated diagnostic artifacts including Rose Spring <br />points and sand tempered gray ware. This ceramic type has been named Douglas Creek <br />Gray ware by Hauck, and has associated dates of AD 570±40 and AD 790±60 (Hauck <br />1993:252). Comparable dates and ceramics were obtained from 5RB2958 (Baker 1990). <br />Other Fremont ceramics known in the area include Uinta Gray Ware and Emery Gray Ware. <br />Hauck (1993:251) indicates that the resurgence of Anasazi artifact associations (both <br />in lithics and pottery) in this general region evidently had “a Late Formative cultural phase <br />similar to the Bull Creek phase of the San Rafael region to the southwest.” This late <br />Fremont period appears to extend from AD 950 and 1150, a range which is contemporaneous <br />with the late Pueblo II and Pueblo III occupation on the southern Colorado Plateau. Two <br />types of Anasazi ceramics often found in the Douglas Creek area are Tusayan and Mancos <br />Corrugated gray wares. Similar intrusions of Anasazi ceramics have been identified in the <br />Uinta Basin. Hauck also notes there is a distinct similarity between the dry-laid surface <br />masonry structures, promontory sites above the canyon floor, and absence of free-standing <br />storage units of the Uinta Basin and Douglas Creek areas with those found at the Turner- <br />Look Site located in the Book Cliffs area (roughly north of Cisco, Utah). Accordingly, he <br />states that the Book Cliffs phase as originally postulated by Schroedl and Hogan <br />(1975:54-55) is probably the most appropriate designation for this late Formative <br />development in the Uinta Basin and Douglas Creek localities. <br />Reed and Metcalf (1999:118) have proposed a sequence for the Fremont occupation <br />of northwest Colorado that includes conclusions based on several of the previous inventory <br />projects. They postulate four periods founded on the presence or absence of ceramics, corn <br />horticulture, and structural features: <br />30