2018-09-04_PERMIT FILE - C1980007 (17)

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Negative Results Report Cultural Resource Survey Mountain Coal's Sunset Trail Lease Modifications Permit Revision #PR -15 Gunnison County, Colorado Settled (6450 to 4450 B.P.), Transitional (4450 to 2950 B.P.), and Terminal (2950 to 1950 B.P.). The other prominent chronology was developed by Buckles (1971) from work conducted under the auspices of the Ute Prehistory project on the Uncompahgre Plateau. Although dated, Buckles' work demonstrates nearly continuous occupation of the plateau and indicates in situ development. Similarities with the Oshara Tradition of northern New Mexico (Irwin -Williams 1973) are also evident, but it has been clearly demonstrated that the northern Colorado River Basin developed independently of this and other large-scale chronologies, including the Northwest Plains (Frison 1991), the western Great Plains of Colorado (Gilmore et al. 1999), and the northern Colorado Plateau (Schroedl 1976). The Formative era (2400 to 700 B.P.) is a period when horticulture became a major subsistence focus in western Colorado. The Fremont practiced horticulture in far northwestern Colorado and into Utah, and evidence of Ancestral Puebloan use extends from southwestern Colorado, but was of limited intensity, and is restricted to the area of the Dolores River drainage. The Formative era saw the introduction of the bow and arrow and distinctive ceramic traditions, and structures generally became more permanent. The hunter -gatherer lifestyle is still recognized in the archaeological record for this period and may represent a cultural tradition separate from the Fremont and Ancestral Pueblo (Reed and Metcalf 1999). For western Colorado, two Formative era traditions have been defined — Fremont and Ancestral Pueblo — and two other traditions have been proposed — Gateway and Aspen. The Fremont includes a number of variants, including the Uinta, San Rafael, Great Salt Lake, Sevier, and Parowan; whereas others have reduced this number to just three variants: Fremont, Sevier, and Uinta Basin variants (Madsen 1979). Fremont occupation of western Colorado occurs significantly in three areas: western Montrose County, Glade Park, and the Douglas Creek/Dinosaur National Monument area (Reed and Metcalf 1999). Upland use of areas such as the Uncompahgre Plateau and Grand Mesa undoubtedly occurred and is recognized by the presence of projectile point styles such as Uinta side -notched and Rosegate corner -notched, although these styles occur ubiquitously throughout the Formative era and the general morphological types were widely adopted by other cultures. Fremont structures include free-standing masonry roomblocks, semisubterranean pithouses, and isolated granaries. The Ancestral Puebloan Tradition does not extend very far north into the northern Colorado River Basin, and although Ancestral Puebloan ceramics are occasionally found in small amounts in the region, their presence is usually attributed to trade and not actual occupation of the region (Reed and Metcalf 1999). The reader should refer to the Southern Colorado Basin Context (Lipe et al. 1999) for further information. The ambiguity of assigning cultural affiliation to masonry habitation sites, the occurrence of Ancestral Puebloan pottery, the occasional corn, and sites with small corner -notched projectile points in western Colorado to either the Fremont Tradition or Ancestral Puebloan Tradition has not been lost on investigators. In response, Reed (1997) developed the Gateway Tradition (2400 to 800 B.P.) as a separate cultural entity distinctive from the Fremont and Ancestral Puebloan Traditions. Still far from accepted, the Gateway Tradition is characterized by limited reliance on horticulture and small corner - notched projectile points such as the Rosegate series; the acquisition of ceramics from both the Fremont ERO Project #10145 5