Laserfiche WebLink
Western Archaic Tradition <br />• 80(10 B.C. -Historic Period <br />It is assumed that climatic changes at the end of the Pleistocene required an <br />adaptive shift of people in the intermontane area To different subsistence activities. <br />M egafauna numbers and ranges are presumed to have been reduced throughout the <br />western United States. More intensive exploitation of plant and animal resources is <br />reflected in new variations in lithic tool technology including a greater abundance of <br />grinding stones, more specialized tools, and a greater tendency to return to the same <br />sites year after year. Originally termed the Desert Culture, this cultural adaptation <br />has been defined more generally as the Western Archaic (J. Jennings 1974:154-189). <br />The' Western Archaic lasted from ca. 8000 B.C. To the historic period; in Colorado, <br />the tradition persisted until conflicts with nonaboriginal settlers forced the aboriginal <br />inhabitants out of The area by the early 1880s. <br />The middle Prehistoric Period is a subset of the Western Archaic and has been <br />defined in northwestern Colorado from ca. 7000 B.C. to A.D. 900. Its artifact <br />ass°mblages include McKean Complex artifacts from Deluge Sheller (Leach 1970:192) <br />and locations on the Little Snake River (Jennings and Daniels 1976:10), and Duncan- <br />. Hanna points (Wheeler 1954) which are known to occur in the area (Creasman and <br />Jennings 1977:20; Jones and Jennings 1977:13; Jennings and Daniels 1976:1 I; and <br />Breternitz 1970:86). <br />The Late Western archaic tradition has been defined in northwestern Colorado <br />and dates from 1300 B.C. to A.D. 300 (Creasman et al. 1977:53; Leach 1970). This <br />tra~jition is characterized by the use of rockshelters and caves by small groups of <br />nomadic people. Projectile points characterizing this period include Pinto, Hanna, <br />and Elko corner-notched types (Creasman et al. 1977:53; Burney 1979:6). <br />Frison et al. (1974:123) indicate that small corner-notched points, some strongly <br />barbed, are indicative of Western Archaic traditions dating from 3000 To 1000 years <br />B.P., while basal-notched varieties appeared about 500 years ago. <br />Sometime shortly before 1000 years B.P., conchoidal pottery appeared both in <br />the east and the west. The eastern pottery is cord marked and has affiliations with <br />Plains Woodland traditions. The western pottery is brushed plainware of possible <br />Athapaskan affinity. Later sites in the west contain flat-bottomed "intermountain <br />ware" of probable Shoshonean derivation. <br />• <br />2.8-5 <br />