PERMFILE53376

• Permit No: C1981019
• IBM Index Class Name: Permit File
• Doc Date: 12/11/2001
• Doc Name: Sections 4 cont & Section 5
• Section_Exhibit Name: EXHIBIT 05 Archaelogical Part 3
• Media Type: D
• Archive: No

Generally, Paleoindian lifeways focused upon the hunting of. large
. game animals, many of which (e.g., mammoth and large bison) became
extinct at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. The Paleoindian Period/
Tradition is divided into three major complexes: Clovis, Folsom, and
Plano. The hallmarks of each complex are distinctive lanceolate projec-
tile points (e.g., Clovis, Folsom, and Hell Gap types, to name but a
few). None of the projectile point types has been found in or near the
project area. A possible Paleoindian bison kill (5MF969) has been
reported in the Axial Basin (Piontkowski 1981). At this site, two
butchered long bones and a vertebral fragment of an extinct species of
bison (Bison antiquus) have been recovered from a stream cutbank approx-
imately 6.5 km northwest of the project area. No artifacts were recov-
ered but the long bones exhibit butchering cut marks.
Following the Pleistocene, the climate gradually became warmer and
drier, reaching a thermal maximum at approximately 6000 years B.P.
(Antevs 1955). Many Pleistocene animals became extinct. These inter-
related events had a demonstrable effect upon the Paleoindians who
derived a large share of their diet from the hunting of these animals.
Their adaptive response to these changes was to employ a "broad spectrum
exploitation strategy" (Grady 1984:25), generally referred to as an
Archaic lifestyle. The hunting and gathering of a greater diversity of
animals and plants was adopted. The increased emphasis upon plant
resources was marked, as evidenced by the appearance of roasting pits
and groundstone artifacts. These Archaic peoples followed a pattern of
seasonal transhumance in a region, moving from one area to the next
• during the year as exploitable resources became available. Seasonal
strategies suggested for the area include a lowland, riverine occupation
in early spring, transferring to a high mountain area for game and, when
the snow cover allows, returning again to lowland resources (pinyon
nuts, juniper berries) when snow falls in the autumn (Grady 1984:29).
The entire period is viewed as a very conservative one in which
changes occurred slowly (Jennings 1978) and the same lifestyle existed
for thousands of years, from approximately 8000 to 1500 BP (Prison
1978). The period is differentiated from the previous Paleoindian era
by a change in projectile point types, a diversification of tool types,
introduction of the mono and metate and exploitation of a wide range of
flora and fauna.
The Archaic Period has been divided into sub-periods or phases
based upcn clusters of radiocarbon dates from controlled excavations or
distinctive projectile point styles. Temporal units defined for the
Archaic Period on the Northwestern Plains and Northern Colorado Plateau
are shown in Figure 2.2. Chronological and other minor differences not-
withstanding, general patterns are evident in both regions: diminution
in the size of projectile points, greater reliance upon plant foods, and
population increase. These changes herald the adoption of the bow and
arrow and the replacement of a strictly hunting and gathering subsis-
tence strategy with a Formative lifestyle which was more sedentary and
founded upon the cultivation of various domesticated plants. This
. horticultural "(r)evolution" was not universal throughout the western
United States, however. Many aboriginal groups, particularly those on
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