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12 <br />the Great Basin. Grady's (1980) study of the Piceance <br />• Basin demonstrated seasonal resource use tied to the migration <br />of mule deer from the lowlands to the uplands. <br />At the beginning of the Archaic stage (ca. 5500 to 3000 <br />-, B.C.), the droughts associated with the Altithermal climatic <br />episode (Antevs 1955) may have resulted in population <br />increases in the mountains of Colorado as people moved <br />out of the Great Basin .and Great Plains areas (Benedict <br />and Olson 1978). Evidence of structural remains dating <br />__ to Early Archaic times was discovered near Granby (Wheeler <br />and Martin 1983). Of the 105 Archaic sites reported by <br />Grady (1984) for northwestern Colorado, 19 have been assigned <br />to the Early Archaic period. The majority of these are <br />campsites. Four sites have yielded nine radiocarbon dates <br />between 5595 and 3490 B.C. Site SRT139 in the Seneca <br />II•mine area produced radiocarbon dates of 4480 and 3950 <br />B.C. (Tucker 1981). <br />The Middle Archaic period, from about 3000 to 1000 B.C., <br />is well represented in the Yampa River Basin, with both <br />Great Plains McKean complex artifacts and Great Basin <br />Pinto type points having been noted (Arthur and Collins <br />1981). McKean complex points were recovered in Level <br />12 of Deluge Shelter in Dinasour National Monument (Leach <br />1970). Similar artiacts were found in Cultural Zones <br />• 3 and 4 at the Lay Site on the Yampa River west of Craig, <br />associated with hearth features radiocarbon dated between <br />about 2320 and 2200 B.C (O'Neil 1980). Grady (1984) counted <br />22 Middle Archaic sites in northwest Colorado, the majority <br />of which were camps or lithic scatters. <br />The Late Archaic period, from about 1000 B.C. to A.D. 500, <br />evidenced a higher site density than earlier periods, <br />with 41 assigned occupations for northwestern Colorado. <br />This is reflected in the number of radiocarbon dates, <br />with 21 sites yielding 44 dates between 950 B.C. and A.D. 375. <br />Again camps and lithic scatters dominate the site types <br />(Grady 1984). Late Archaic sites in Routt National Forest <br />are typified by Great Basin point styles, such as the <br />Elko-Eared type (ward-Williams and Foster 1977). At Deluge <br />Shelter Elko-Eared points were found within Levels 11 <br />and 10, estimated to date to 1500 B.C. (Leach 1970). <br />Elko series-like points were also recovered from the Lay <br />site, but were thought to be associated with a cultural <br />zone dated to A.D. 650 (O'Neil 1980). Late Archaic points <br />were found at site SRT385 in the Seneca II mine area (Linnabery <br />and Evans 1963). <br />The Formative stage is defined by evidence of horticulture, <br />reflecting a more sedentary lifeway, with the presence <br />of ceramics and projectile point technology evolving to <br />• the use of bow and arrow. In northwestern Colorado the <br />Fremont culture appeared during the Formative stage. <br />