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e <br />ESPEY, HUSTON 6ASSOCIATES, INC. <br />r 1 <br />LJ <br />tions (Benedict and Olson, 1978). In any case, there is abundant evidence of <br />Altithermal age sites from the foothills of Colorado to the high mountains. Current <br />evidence includes remnants of game drive systems at higher elevations; wall and <br />cairns were constructed, behind which Altithermal hunters could hide and force <br />game animals toward their demise at predetermined kill locations (Benedict and <br />Olson, 1978). No Early Archaic cultural materials have been recorded from the <br />vicinity of the Piceance Basin to the southwest of the study azea or from the <br />Danforth Hills region, but these remains have been found elsewhere in northwestern <br />Colorado. <br />The Middle Plains Archaic extended from 3000 B.C. to 1000 B.C. and is <br />manifest in the McKean Complex. Representative projectile paint types include <br />McKean, Duncan and Hanna points (Frison et al., 1974). Although hunting continued <br />to be significant in terms of subsistence, the artifact assemblages of this period <br />• imply increased exploitation of plant foods. The McKean Complex is well repre- <br />sented in northern, central and northwestern Colorado (Breteraitz, 1970; Creaseman <br />et al., 1977; C. Jennings, 1974; Lischka sad Miller, 1978). <br />Small corner-notched and stemmed projectile points were predominant <br />during the Late Archaic period (1000 B.C. - A.D. 500). Hunting of lazge and small <br />game as well as plant food exploitation continued. During this period, the relation- <br />ship of the Late Archaic cultures in northwestern Colorado to those in the Great <br />Basin becomes increasingly pronounced. Late Archaic sites containing aztifacts <br />related to the Desert Archaic and to the Uncompahgre Complex are common is this <br />portion of northwestern Colorado (Jennings, 1974; Bridge and Knox, 1978). <br />Evidence of the semi-sedentary, horticultural Fremont culture is abun- <br />dant in the vicinity of Douglas Creek, adjacent to the western border of the <br />Piceance Basin which is located west-southwest of the study area, and in Dinosaur <br />National Monument, located northwest of the study azea. Fremont occupation in <br />those azeas is conjectured to have extended from approximately A.D.800 to <br /> <br />E-10 <br />