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• 2 ~1) the various forms of cultural adaptation occuring between 12,000 B.C. and 1400 A.D. The rrountains prehistoric chronology used by Guthrie et al. (1984) proposes Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Formative, and Protohistoric/Historic periods, between 10,000 B.C. and 1800 A.D. Cultural manifestations of these periods include various distinctive types of projectile points and other lithic and ceramic artifacts, as well as habitation sites and sites associated with such subsistence activities as hunting/gathering and resource procurement.. Mehls' (1984) plains historic chronology, which is also applicable to this area, describes E~roamerican activity on the Colorado plains between 1590 A.D. and 1945 A.D. in terms of a number of socio~cronomic themes. Themes most applicable to the general project area include early exploration, trappers/traders, early agriculture, railroading, and mining. Potentially significant cultural material associated with these themes includes Euroamerican campsites, trails, trapping/trading equipment, homesteading structures/equipment, and especially mining/prospecting structures/features. STATII~TP OF OBJF)C1'IVFS fi RESEARCii DESIGN The object of the inventory was to locate and record all significant cultural resources within the inventory area, and to subsequently evaluate these resources against National Register of Historic Places criteria. To that end, an intensive field inventory would be conducted to locate and record cultural resources, followed by analysis and evaluation of these resources within the rnntext of local/regional prehistory and history. The general project area was presumed to have potential for significant cultural resources associated with any or all of the cultural/temporal periods outlined above. Upland localities in this area with surficial gravel/cobble deposits would be regarded as having relatively higher potential for prehistoric cultural resources. Optimally, potential cultural resources in this area could rnntribute to research on site functions, chronology, subsistence strategies, settlement patterns, resource exploitation, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, and artifact typology in central Colorado. Prehistoric cultural resources for which greatest potential in the immediate area could be anticipated include lithic procurement sites and/or possible open campsites, while historic resources include ranching, railroading, and especially mining/prospecting sites. Silver mining/prospecting began in this area in the late 1870's, and railroading in the 1880's (Ubbelohde 1988). Numerous mines/prospects are shown on the USGS map a few miles northeast of the project. FIELD METHODS A rectangular parcel, measuring 600 x 679 ft., was inventoried by means of parallel pedestrian transects. These transects were oriented generally east-west, and were spaced not more than 15 to 20 meters apart. The entire parcel having been thus covered, additional transects were walked across the ridgetop at 5 to 10-meter intervals, the total area inventoried for this project being 9.35 acres.