2016-08-08_PERMIT FILE - C1981019A (12)

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Historic Properties Treatment Plan, Colloin Mine, Colorado 1 L 3.0 THE SITES 3.1 SITE 5MF969, THE SOMEMORE SITE Site Description: Site 5MF969, the Somemore Site, was originally recorded in 1980 by Michael Pointkowski and Sherri Hansen of the BLM during a sample survey (Class 1I) for a coal lease for Utah International. The site is located at the head of an arroyo along an unnamed ephemeral tributary to Little Collom Gulch, which drains to the north - northeast (Figure 3.1). During the original recording, a bison humerus was found in situ in the west cutbank of the arroyo approximately 1.5 in below surface. A bison femur was found 10 ft (3 m) downstream in the arroyo bottom most likely having eroded from the cutbank. Two pieces of debitage were also discovered 330 ft (100 m) downstream from the bison bones, but both were recorded as isolates (5MF967, 5MF970) unrelated to the site. The bones were confirmed to be of the bison species by Joe Ben Wheat and metrically resembled extinct bison species such as Bison antiquus. The bison bones appeared to be lightly weathered and were thought to be partially fossilized, while the humerus exhibited cutmarks consistent with Paleoindian butchering patterns. In May of 1981, the Somemore Site was revisited by BLM archaeologists Michael Pointkowski, Beth Walton, and Phil Allard. The purpose of the revisit was to determine whether additional bone or cultural material was present, to define the site boundary, to determine the origin of the eroded bone, to sample and define the soils at the site, and to use the soil data to interpret the environmental history of the deposits at the site. The revisit established that the bones originated from a stabilized surface and were not from a secondary depositional context, and the site has a good potential for buried cultural material. Additionally, a bison vertebra was discovered at the same level (approximately 1.5 m below surface) as the humerus. In July of 1983, the Somemore Site was revisited for limited testing during a Class III inventory for a coal lease for Utah International by the BLM and TRC Mariah (formally Mariah Associates, Inc.). A mechanical soil auger was used to drill five holes in areas where bone had 47599 TRC Mariah Associates Inc.