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ARCHAEOLOGICAL SEQUENCE The project is located between the Plains to the east, the Great Basin to the :vest, I the lt'yoming Basin to the north, and the Southwest to the south. It is clear from archaeological data that the area has witnessed a long and varied sequence of human occupatiohn and utilization. This seauenee, cutlined belo•.v, has been divided into several traditions, each e:ihibiting characteristic assernbla?es of artifacts, settlement pattcrrs, and subsistence pursuits. l1'hether or not these cultural stages are directly ancestral to one another is almost impossible to determine, at least on the basis of e>;tant archaeological data. Paleo-Indian Period It is traditional to date the beginning of the Paleo-Indian period at about 12.DOD B.P., or a little earlier. It is now becoming apparent, however, that nearby areas r: ere occupied by apre-Clovis culture with a tooltechnology based, in large part, on the ber.es of e~:tinct Pleistocene fauna (Bonnichson 1970; Stanford 1978). Very little is known about • this "pre-projectile point stage" (ltiormington 1957), although an increasing number c: reliably dated, stratified sites are being reported (Bryan 1978). This "pre-projectile point stage" has been geologically dated at 17,000 B.P. in eastern Colorado, and is under a level containing Clovis material (Stanford 1973). The Clovis point is the haIlmark of the beginning of the better known portion of the Paleo-Indian period. Beginning about 12,000 B.P., this portion of the Paleo-Indian is marked by the hunting of large Pleistocene mammals (mammoth, bison, camels, horses, ground sloth) and use of large, lanceolate projectile pouts. This pattern apparently persisted after the extinction of the large mammals, until about 7000 B.P. (1Vindmiller 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 iVyoming to the north and the Plains to the east (Jennings 1965). It appears to begin earliest in the Great Basin, where a date oC 10,000 • B.P. has been obtained for the Desert Archaic (Jennings 1978). Dated Desert Archaic sites in Colorado appear to be much later, such as 3500-3000 B.P. at Hells 1lidden (Jennings 1968). These people practiced an apparently heavier reliance on vegetable • 4 .. ,~; ., , . ..