Laserfiche WebLink
• ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE <br />The project is Located between the Plains to Che east, <br />the Great Basin to the west, the Wyoming basin to the north, <br />and the Southwest to the south (see Map 4). It is clear <br />from archaeological data that the area has witnessed a long <br />and varied sequence of human occupation .and utilization. <br />This sequence, outlined below, has been divided into several <br />traditions, each exhibiting characteristic assemblages of <br />artifacts, settlement patterns, and subsistence pursuits. <br />Whether or not these cultural stages are directly ancestral <br />to one another or not is almost impossible to determine, <br />at least on the basis of extant archaeological data. <br />Paleo-Indian Period <br />The Paleo-Indian period is defined on the basis of the <br />hunting of large Pleistocene mammals,(mammoth, bison, camel, <br />• horse, groundsloth, and others), and the use of Large, lanceo- <br />late projectile points. The subsistence base probably in- <br />cluded vegetable resources and smaller animals, but attention <br />has been focused on the extinct PLeistocene faunal remains. <br />It is traditional to date the beginning of the Pa1eo- <br />Indian period at about 12,000 BP or a little earlier. It is <br />now becoming apparent, however, that nearby areas were occu- <br />pied by a pre-Clovis culture with a tool technology based, <br />in large part, on the bones of extinct PLeistocene fauna <br />(Bonnichsen 1978; Stanford 1978). Very little is known about <br />this "pre-projectile point. stage" (Wormington 1957), although <br />an increasing number of stratified sites yielding datable <br />remains are being reported (Bryan 1978). This "pre-projectile <br />point stage" has been geologically dated at 17,000 BP in <br />eastern Colorado, and is under a level containing Clovis <br />material (Stanford 1978). <br />• <br />9 <br />