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32 <br />neighboring areas probably had some impact on lifeways in <br />northeastern Colorado, the overall subsistence strategy in this <br />area appears to have remained generally similar to that of the <br />Archaic Stage. <br />By approximately 1,000 years B.P., cord-marked ceramics began to <br />be replaced by smooth surfaced forms, indicative of the Middle <br />Ceramic period. This transition coincided with the introduction <br />of small side-notched projectile points. Both traits are <br />generally considered diagnostic of the Upper Republican phase <br />which was centered geographically in Nebraska (Cassels 1983:170- <br />173). The temporal span of the Middle Ceramic period in eastern <br />Colorado corresponds also with the Old Woman's phase or Late <br />Side-Notched Arrow Point tradition of the northwestern plains <br />(Reeves 1978). Although Frison (1978) attributes the appearance <br />of small side-notched projectile points and smooth ceramics on <br />the Wyoming plains to northwestern influences, this region of <br />influence has been traditionally overlooked by Colorado <br />archaeologists. <br />In Eighmy's chronology the Middle Ceramic period terminates at <br />the beginning of the Protohistoric period, ca. 275 years B.P. <br />Previous chronologies, and some contemporary efforts, include a <br />Late Ceramic period between the Middle Ceramic and Protohistoric <br />periods. While a three-part division of the Ceramic period is <br />justified by .morphological changes in artifact assemblages in <br />some regions, eastern Colorado ceramic artifacts exhibit little <br />variability between the onset of the Middle Ceramic period and <br />historic contact. <br />2.2.9 Protohistoric/Contact Stage <br />This stage is the period between early contacts of American <br />Indians with European items and the beginning of frequent con- <br />tact. Eighmy (1983:199) notes that virtually all proto-historic <br />stage sites in northeastern Colorado are attributed to the Dismal <br />River Phase of the Plains Apache. Nonetheless, numerous tribes <br />including Palome and Cuartelejo Apache, Comanche, Shoshone, and <br />