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fieldwork, in order to identify previously surveyed areas and previously recorded cultural <br /> resources within or adjacent to the project area. In addition, GLO records (patents and early <br /> survey plats)were reviewed. No cultural manifestations were evident within the present <br /> study boundary. <br /> Two inventories and fourteen cultural resources have been reported within one-mile <br /> of the present project boundary. Half of the previously recorded resources are prehistoric in <br /> nature, consisting of open camps and rock art sites, while the other half are historic sites, <br /> related to mining, habitation or transportation. These projects and sites are listed in Tables <br /> A-1 and A-2 of Appendix A. <br /> Local and regional archaeological studies suggest nearly continuous human <br /> occupation of northwest Colorado for the past 12,000 years. A general temporal outline for <br /> the prehistory of the Northern Colorado River Basin includes manifestations of the <br /> Paleoindian Era, big-game hunting peoples (ca. 11,500 - 6400 BC); the Archaic Era <br /> hunter/gatherer groups (ca. 6500-400 BC); the Formative Era horticulturist/forager cultures <br /> (ca. 400 BC-AD 1300); the Protohistoric Era's pre-horse hunter/gatherers (ca. AD 1300-AD <br /> 1650) and historic horse-riding nomads (ca. AD 1650-AD 1881). Overviews of the prehistory <br /> of Northwest Colorado can be found in the following contexts: Colorado Pr•ehisto13': A <br /> Conteit_for•the Nor•ther•n Colorado River Basin (Reed and Metcalf 1999), and Synthesis of' <br /> Archaeological Data Compiled for the Piceance Basin Expansion, Rockies Express Pipeline, <br /> and Uinta Basin Lateral Projects in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties, Colorado, and <br /> Siveetxvater•, County, Wyoming, Volume 2 (Metcalf and Reed 2011). Historic records indicate <br /> occupation or use by EuroAmerican trappers, settlers, miners, and ranchers as well, as <br /> discussed in: Colorado Histor3,:A Context,for Historical ArchaeoloD, (Church et al. 2007), <br /> Frontier in Transition (O'Rourke 1980), and An Isolated Empire:A History of'Northivest <br /> Colorado (Athearn 1976). <br /> STUDY OBJECTIVES/RESEARCH DESIGN <br /> The purposes of the inventory were to conduct an intensive archaeological survey of <br /> areas subject to direct impact from surface disturbance activities; to identify and accurately <br /> locate archaeological sites and/or districts and isolated finds; to evaluate these surface finds <br /> for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); to determine the potential <br /> effect of the project on all NRHP-eligible resources; and, to make recommendations for the <br /> mitigation of the adverse effects on those cultural resources. The presence of cultural <br /> resources was expected based on the presence of nearby sites, nearby water sources (spring <br /> and Skull Creek), and the general topography offering floral resources, shelter materials and a <br /> suitable viewshed for observation. <br /> 4 <br />