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<br />throughout the locus to locate any possible additional <br />structures or other subsurface features. Problem domains that <br />will be addressed include cultural affiliation, site function, <br />seasonality, subsistence, social organization, technology, <br />extra-regional relationships, site formation and transformation, <br />and paleoenvironment. <br />Research Background <br />Results of the C-14 sample processing indicate the site was <br />occupied during the Late Archaic period. The appearance of the <br />Archaic tradition about 6000 B.C. reflects a shift in the <br />availability of food resources caused by climatic changes at the <br />end of the Pleistocene epoch. A transition from the hunting/ <br />mobile subsistence pattern of the PaleoIndian to a hunting- <br />gathering/semi-sedentary (or sedentary) one is the focus of this <br />shift. The Archaic Tradition in the western mountain region of <br />Colorado apparently exploited three climatic zones: the cool <br />desert, the temperate, and the boreal. Because of these cooler <br />climatic conditions, aboriginal peoples living there would be <br />required to be coilectors--organizing food procurement groups to <br />• obtain food and storing that food for at least part of the year <br />(Binford 1980:9). <br />The occurrence of storage and habitation structures is well <br />documented in Colorado. Recorded finds of surface and pithouse <br />structures indicate that such were present in the central Rocky <br />Mountains from as early as 5000 B.C. Clearly, at various times, <br />ecological niches in these areas provided conditions stable <br />enough for a sedentary or semi-sedentary lifestyle to be <br />pursued. At altitudes of 8000 feet or more in Colorado, what <br />are apparently pole and mud structures have been found in the <br />Curecanti National Forest near Gunnison and the Windy Gap site <br />near Granby. Radiocarbon dates of ca. 5270-4980 B.C. and ca. <br />3540-1810 B.C. from the Curecanti sites compare with Windy Gap's <br />dates of ca. 6500 B.C., ca. 2740 B.C., and ca. 2280 B.C. <br />(Cassells 1983:73-80). Thus far, the oldest pithouse, dating to <br />5180 B.C., was found at the Yarmony Site (Metcalf and Black <br />1988:15). <br />Middle Archaic period pit structures have also been found <br />at lower altitudes in Colorado. Several were found along the <br />Indian Creek drainage southeast of Grand Junction. Portions of <br />5ME1373 were excavated and yielded the remains of Archaic <br />habitation structures dating between 3900-2300 B.C. (Horn et al. <br />1987). <br /> <br />6 <br />