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A Paleo-Indian occupation has not yet been clearly demonstrated or • temporally bracketed in this area, but some people bearing this tradi- tion seem to have been present in the area about 8,000 or 9,000 B.C, as indicated by occasional isolated finds of Folsom points in scattered iocaTes of western Eolorado (Toll 1977: Fig. 51 and Jennings 1968:16). It is possible that a pre-projectile cultural stage, such as projected by Krieger (1964), could yet be demonstrated in western Colorado. Jennings (1968) discussed this, but there is as yet no evidence of such a stage in the region. If such evidence were found to be present it could push the cultural chronology of the area back many thousand years beyond that of the Paleo-Indian. Generally, evidence of pre- historic Indian occupation in mountainous regions, such as those of the Gunnison Country, has been sparse and is generally believed to represent seasonal exploitation of the environment with little evidence of permanent year-round occupation (Lister 1962:45, Schroeder 1953, and Baker 1980). Some archaeologists working in western Colorado loosely speak of the Archaic stage which followed the Paleo-Indian and preceded the historic Ute tradition. In using the term "Archaic," these individuals are, however, generally speaking of the basic Desert culture (Jennings 1957) or pre- or incipient pottery tradition which is locally reflected in the Uncompahgre Complex. As pointed out by Buckles, this tradition may have persisted in the area for nearly 9,000 years. In this period it has been postulated that the tradition remained generally stable (Buckles 1971) but underwent minor adjustments in the cultural assemblage • as a response to local environmental adaptations and contact with peoples of the Fremont and Anasazi persuasions in the general period ca. 700 to 1300, or thereabouts. It is important to note on an ethnohistorical basis, however, that the Escalante Phase (Table 1) may only be representative of the historic Ute culture in the early historic period. Once the Utes acquired horses, their cultural profile changed dramatically from that of the early historic period. It certainly changed again as part of the Utes reservation experience during what some ethnohistorians refer to as the phase of Administrative Stabilization (Leacock and Lurie 1971:9-12). So, while the Escalante Phase may represent the early historic profile of the Utes, this profile was almost certainly altered enough in the course of the contact experience that one should be prepared to recognize at least two more potential cultural phases within the Escalante. As outlined, most of the available regional archaeological data is drawn from the Uncompahgre Plateau and other area west of the actual Rocky Mountains which encompass most of the Gunnison Country and the Grand Mesa Project area. There is no local chronology for the project area except that for west-central Colorado in general.