2018-03-19_PERMIT FILE - C1981019 (2)

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Data Recovery Report for Three Sites at the Collom Project Colowyo Coal Company Reed and Metcalf (1999) divide the region's Archaic Era into four periods (Pioneer, Settlement, Transitional, and Terminal) based on their review of the archaeological data. The periods were defined to provide regional focused research a I cultural sequence to use instead of the more frequently used, but likely inappropriately applied, out -of -region Great Basin and Plains cultural chronologies. The Pioneer Period (6,400 to 4,500 B.C.) is when the highly mobile Paleoindian adaption ends and a more sedentary, full time occupation of the region begins. The Settlement Period (4,500 to 2,500 B.C.) is when local cultural manifestations intensify with localized seasonal movement anchored around winter habitation areas. The period includes the use and proliferation of pit houses and a wide variety of other basin features. The Transitional Period (2,500 to 1,000 B.C.) appears to have less sedentism, more cultural material variety, and greater use of higher elevation areas. The Terminal Period (1,000 to 400 B.C.) is argued to be a time of greater resource processing and intensification, bow and arrow adoption, and the first use of cultigens in the region. 2.4 Formative Era The Formative Era (400 B.C. to A.D. 1300) is characterized by the social and material changes resulting from the arrival of cultigens to the region. Climatically the Medieval Warm Period occurs during the era which consisted of a slow warming until A.D. 900 then a rapid warming period with high summer rainfall. By A.D. 1000, the climate experienced decades of cyclical severe drought followed by abundant precipitation (Simms 2008). During the era, Anasazi groups adopted full time horticultural practices throughout the southwestern United States including in southwestern Colorado. The Fremont in far western Colorado and throughout Utah also utilized cultigens; however, the archaeological evidence reflects both regional and temporal variations in the degree of dependence on cultigens (Spangler 2000). Anasazi and Fremont cultural material has not been identified to a significant degree in the immediate region around the Project. Few ceramics have been found and no architecture associated with either group has been documented. Definitive horticulturalist sites in northwestern Colorado do no extend beyond the major drainages that would have environmentally supported an economic cultigen dependent economy during the era. If Fremont and/or Anasazi groups utilized the region, Reed and Metcalf (1999) theorize it was by logistical groups seeking specific resources and/or practicing hunter -gatherer adaptations. The Project area's archaeological record has more in common with the previous Archaic Era. Key differences from the prior era are the production of bow and arrow type projectile points, bulk food procurement, expansive material trade, and sparse—but present—ceramics. Most of the fish procurement evidence also dates to this period with several such sites located near the Project (Lubinski 2000). The majority of identified sites are located below 7,000 ft above sea level in basin and basin margin settings. However, more and more sites are being identified above 7,000 ft sea level in upland settings from the period. The upland archaeological evidence appears to reflect increased utilization as basin environments degrade in the latter part of the era. Reed and Metcalf (1999) propose the label of Aspen Tradition (400 B.0 to A.D. 1300) to categorize the regional hunter -gatherer archaeological sites dating to this period, but in areas that would not have supported cultigen centered adaptation. The tradition is proposed to support research into the region's non -horticultural archaeological diversity without having to rely on out -of -region cultural constructs to interpret the data. The Aspen Tradition is also argued to be a parallel construct to the Wyoming Basin's Uinta Phase. The Uinta Phase in the Wyoming Basin is characterized by an intensification of seed procurement/processing and pronghorn mass kills (Creasman and Thompson 1997; Metcalf 1987). To date, few to no mass kill sites have been found in western Colorado and northeastern Utah (Spangler 2000). The region always lacked the large gregarious ungulate herds of the portions of the Wyoming Basin to the north. Tetra Tech February 2018 10