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<br />the Continental Divide of the Colorado Front Range on the west <br />to the foothills and Central Plains on the east. They have <br />constructed a regional environmental chronology (Eddy, et al. <br />1982:Figure 3.1) based upon local sequences of alluviation, soil <br />formation, erosion, aeolian activity, bison presence/absence, and <br />mountain glaciation. Included within this chronology is the <br />l_ history of vegetation-climatic events for the Holocene Epoch in <br />l eastern North America constructed by Wendland (1978). The <br />highlights of this climatic history are summarized in Table 2. <br />In general, the climate became increasingly warmer and drier <br />l_ during the early Holocene, reaching a thermal maximum at about <br />6,000 years ago (during Antevs' Altithermal-age). The climate <br />after this time was generally cooler and moister, interrupted by <br />brief periods of greater aridity. <br />How and to what degree these climatic variations affected <br />prehistoric inhabitants in the region is unknown. It is also <br />possible that localized variations in climatic conditions may <br />have had an adverse (or positive) effect upon aboriginal <br />occupants of the project area which vas not experienced by other <br />groups in the region. Further archaeological work in the region <br />should address these and other questions concerning <br />paleoenvironmental conditions. <br />T88 CQLTIIR7IL BSTTINfi <br />This chapter has two major sections. The Pirat part describes <br />the major archaeological investigations which have been conducted <br />in or near the project area. The focus in this description is <br />upon the interpretations that these investigations have <br />- generated. The second part oP the chapter uses the results of <br />these previous investigations to construct a culture history <br />summary of the project area. This summary includes historical <br />themes as well as prehistoric patterns. <br />SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS <br />Archaeological investigations have been conducted in the region <br />for at least 50 years. Until more recently, these investigations <br />were usually few and far between. Only in the last two decades <br />has any regularity in the performance of archaeological research <br />been achieved. This regularity is partially attributable to the <br />L_ recent ascendancy of cultural resources management, itself an <br />outcome of the enactment of laws and statutes protecting various <br />facets of the environment, including cultural resources. In <br />addition, recent substantive changes in archeological <br />s •'• epistemology have encouraged archaeologists to expand their <br />analytical horizons from the individual site, or group of sites, <br />_ to the region. Patterns of human settlement, subsistence, <br />;•. ~ culture change, and extralocal relationships are better <br />!;~ understood within a regional context. However, intensive <br />examinations through small- or large-scale excavations of one or <br />