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<br />1 <br />' extinction or over-kill of mammoth and a shifting of hunting <br />emphasis to Bison Antiquus (Eighmy 1984). <br />Prehistoric habitation and use of northeastern Colorado and <br />adjacent regions spans approximately 12,000 years from the late <br />' Pleistocene epoch through historic contact. Although the <br />preponderance of reliably dated archaeological sites in the region <br />represent the past 5,000 years, evidence of occupation is nearly <br />' continuous throughout this 12,000 year span. The first formal <br />regional chronology was devised by Mulloy (1958). Mulloy's scheme <br />~' ' was designed specifically for the northwestern plains, but it was <br />generally adopted by archaeologists working within eastern <br />' Colorado. Wood (1967) formulated a chronology specifically for the <br />eastern plains region, which relied on Colorado site data and which <br />' built on Mulloy's work. Frison (1978) further revised and refined <br />Mulloy's northwestern plains chronology. Since cultural and <br />' physiographic boundaries are generally indistinct in the <br />archaeological record, Frison's chronology was considered largely <br />' applicable to northeastern Colorado. Detailed chronological <br />outlines for northeastern Colorado were prepared more recently by <br />'I , Morris (1982:22) and Eighmy (1984:12); these two chronologies <br />differ only slightly. Eighmy's chronology is used in this section <br />' and throughout this report. Eighmy recognizes seven distinct <br />temporal episodes from Paleo-Indian through Contact, within which <br />additional temporal and/or cultural subdivisions may occur. <br />3.1.1 Paleo-Indian Stage <br />' Eighmy divides the Paleo-Indian Stage into four periods: Pre- <br />Clovis, Clovis, Folsom, and Plano. Although this chronology <br />' includes a Pre-Clovis period, the earliest undisputed date of human <br />occupation in eastern Colorado is a radiocarbon age estimate of <br />' 11,200 +/- 500 years Before Present (B.P.) from the Dent Clovis <br />22 <br /> <br />