2023-07-14_PERMIT FILE - C1981010 (20)

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miners, and ranchers as well. Overviews of the historical record are found in the Colorado Bureau of Land Management’s publication Frontier in Transition (O’Rourke 1980). Significantly, a more recent historical context has been published by the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists entitled Colorado History: A Context for Historical Archaeology (Church et al. 2007), a primary guide for this project and other regional projects in the evaluation of historic sites. 5.0 STUDY OBJECTIVES / RESEARCH DESIGN The purposes of this project were to conduct a Class III (intensive) cultural resources inventory of the block areas; to identify and accurately locate archaeological sites and/or districts and isolated finds; to evaluate these surface finds for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); to determine the potential effect of the project on all NRHP- eligible resources; and to make recommendations for the mitigation of the adverse effects on those cultural resources. The presence of historic and prehistoric resources was considered likely based on previously recorded sites within the vicinity. 6.0 FIELD METHODS The project consisted of 76.5 acres in two discrete blocks. These were subject to 100 percent pedestrian survey by two crews of two individuals who walked a series of transects spaced at intervals of 15-20 meters. Sites that were identified by the initial inventory were revisited for intensive mapping procedures. The field archaeologists worked from USGS 7.5 minute series maps. Cultural resources were sought as surface exposures and were characterized as sites or isolated finds. A site is the locus of previous human activity (50 year minimum) at which the preponderance of evidence suggests either a one-time use or repeated use overtime, or multiple classes of activities. For example: a) Isolated thermal features such as hearths are to be designated as sites, due to the interpretable function of such utilization and the potential for chronometric and economic data recovery, b) Single element rock art panels are to be designated as sites due to the interpretable nature of such an event and the potential diagnostic value of the motif, c) Similarly, isolated human burials are to be designated as sites, or d) Loci exhibiting ground stone and flake stone in association. An isolate refers to one or more culturally modified objects not found in the context of a site as defined above. Note that this definition makes no reference to an absolute quantitative standard for the site/isolate distinction. For example: a) A discrete concentration of flakes from the same material, regardless of the number of artifacts present, likely represents a single, random event and is properly designated as an isolate, or b) Similarly, a ceramic pot bust is to be recorded as an isolate, regardless of the number of pieces that remain. 5