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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE The project is located between the Plains to the east, the Great Basin to the west, the Wyoming Basin to the north, and the great Southwest to the south. It is clear from archaeological data that the area has witnessed a long and varied sequence of human occupation and utilization. This sequence, outlined below, has been divided into several traditions, each exhibiting characteristic assemblages of artifacts, settlement patterns, and subsistence pursuits. Whether or not these cultural stages are directly ancestral to one another or not is almost impossible to determine, at least on the basis of extant archaeological data. Paleo-Indian Period It is traditional to date the beginning of the Paleo-Indian period at about 12,000 BP, or a little earlier. It is now becoming apparent, however, that nearby areas were occupied by a pre-Clovis culture with a tool technology based, in large, on the bones 6f extinct Pleistocene fauna (Bonnichson 1970; Stanford 1978). Very little is known about this "pre- • projectile point stage" (Wormington 1957), although an increasing number of reliably dated, stratified sites are being reported (Bryan 1978). This "pre-projectile point stage" has been geologically dated at 17,000 BP in eastern Colorado, and is under a level con- taining Clovis material (Stanford 1978). The Clovis point is the hallmark of the beginning of the better defined portion of the Paleo-Indian period. Beginning about 12,000 8P, this portion of the Paleo-Indian period is marked by the hunting of large Pleistocene mammals (mammoth, bison, camels, horses, ground sloth) and the use of large, lanceolate projectile points. This pattern apparently persisted after the extinction of the large mammals, until about 7,000 BP (Windmiller and Eddy 1975). The Desert Archaic The Desert Archaic is centered in the Great Basin, and is contemporaneous with portions of the Paleo-Indian period in Wyoming to the north and the Plains to the east (Jennings 1968). It appears to begin earliest in the west (away from the study area), where 8-9,000 BP seems a reasonable beginning (Jennings 1978). Danger Cave provides a Desert Archaic date of 10,000 BP (ibid.). Dated Desert Archaic sites in Colorado appear to be much later, such as 3,500-3,000 BP at Hells Midden {Jennings 1968). These people prac- ticed an apparently heavier reliance on vegetable resources, archaeologically evident in a larger number of Tools involved in vegetable food preparation.