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.~e Clovis point is the hallmark of the beginning of the better known portion of the <br />Paleo-Indian period. Beginning about 12,000 B.P., this portion of the Paleo-Indian is <br />marked by the hunting of large Pleistocene mammals (mammoth, bison, camels, horses, <br />ground sloth) and use of large, lanceolate projectile points. T'nis pattern apparently <br />persisted after the extinction of the large mammals, until about 7000 B.P. (windmiller <br />and Eddy 1976). <br />The Desert Tradition <br />The Desert Archaic is centered in the Great Basin, and is contemporaneous with portions <br />of the Paleo-Indian period in [Vyoming to the north and the Plains to the east (Jennings <br />1968). It appears to begin earliest in the Great Basin, where a date of 10,000 B.P. has <br />been obtained for the Desert :\rchaic (Jennings 1978). Dated Desert archaic sites in <br />Colorado appear to be much later, such as 3500-3000 B.P. at Hells 19idden (Jennings <br />1968). These people practiced an apparently heavier reliance on vegetable resources, <br />archaeologically evident in a larger number of tools involved in ve„eta;~le food <br />preparation. <br />• The Archaic (Plains. Rockies. and [PvominR) <br />The beginning of the Archaic period is marked by the Altithermal R7aximum (7500-6500 <br />B.P.), a period of warmer and drier conditions (Benedict 1975). The nearest recorded <br />sites [or this oortion of the early Archaic (7500-5000 B.P.) are in northern 14yoming <br />(Frison 1978). Early Archaic sites which postdate the Altithermal exist in the Colorado <br />foothills and mountains, but none have been found in the Plains (Benedict and Olson <br />1973). A general repopulation of the Central Plains apparently took place during the <br />Middle Archaic (5000-3000 B.P.); this repopulation is marked by the appearance of the <br />91cKean Teehnocomplex. Late Archaic (post 3000 B.P.) materials are also kno~nm from <br />mountains, foothills, and plains settings. <br />Compared with the previous Paleo-Indian period, the Archaic is characterized by a <br />heavier dependence on vegetable resources, based on the larger number of tools involved <br />in the preparation of vegetable foods. The Archaic period persisted in the Central Plains <br />and in the Colorado foothills until about as late as 400-500 A.D. ([Vindmiller and Eddy <br />1976). <br /> <br />16 , <br />