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-23- even more dependent on faunal resources than succeeding cultures, judging from site analyses in other areas. • Numerous mammalian species have been reported for northwestern Colorado (Armstrong 1972) and attention will be paid here only to those species that would have been of primary importance to aboriginal cultures. Mule deer (Odocileus hemionus) occur throughout Colorado and were Fre- quently encountered during the course of our survey. The heaviest concen- trations by far were found at the Colowyo Mine site where large thickets of scrub oak and serviceberry evidently provide ideal cover for gestating does. A number of mule deer were also observed along the Iles Mountain escarpment and in Milk Creek Canyon but never as frequently as at the Colowyo Mine site. Local hunters reported that deer hunting was particularly good along Streeter Canyon. The pronghorn antelope (Antilocapra americana) was formerly abundant in Colorado and still occupies parts of northwestern Colorado (Armstrong 1972:307-308). Two were observed in the Bell Rock Gulch area during the survey. The presence of bison (Bison bison) in the area is of particular inter- est because of its importance in the diet of early big game hunters. Bison • frequented the parks and valleys of the mountains of Colorado, ranging even above timberline. Bison were present in North Park in 1879 and the last recorded occurrence of bison in northwestern Colorado was one killed by the Utes at Cedar Springs, west of Craig, in 1884 (Armstrong 1972:308-310). A local informant reported that several bison skulls had been found on ranches south of the Axial Basin along Morapos Creek and we recovered two bison long bones of undetermined age from a cut bank in front of a rock- shelter (SMF409) in Milk Creek Canyon. It is evident, then, that bison did range in the area, but the size of the herds that occupied the area cannot be determined. The Axial Basin, if grasslands were more extensive than at present, would have provided ideal forage for both bison and prong- horn antelope. The American Elk (Cervus canadensis) formerly ranged over much of west- ern Colorado and was relatively common until market hunting decimated the herds in the late 1800's. They presumably were not as common as the mule deer, however, and may be considered a secondary food source. The range of the black bear (Ursus americanus) extends over all of the