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• ~ possibility remains ronjectural. It seems evident, however, that hunting <br />was the primary activity at S1ZC139, gathering being of secondary or less <br />importance. <br />CH%NOL(XX1' <br />The mitigation efforts at SRT139 were authorized because all previous <br />work (survey and testing) strongly indicated that the site contained <br />buried cultural deposits of significant antiquity (Palen-Indian and <br />Middle Archaic, see Table 9) which were to be impacted totally b3 topsoil <br />removal. Temporal assignations and interpretations of cultural affilia- <br />tions had been made solely on the basis of diagnostic projectile points: <br />two Scottsbluff II variety points representative of the Cody Catg~lex <br />found on the surface, a midsection of a Palen-Indian point found in the <br />trenching fill, and the basal portion of a McKean lanceolate point. If <br />verified, a Cody Ca~lex affiliation would make 5RT139 unique in western <br />• Colorado as no artifacts of that age have been found in a site context. <br />Thus, in addition to detenni.ning the morphology, function, and strati- <br />graphic relationships of the subsurface features at SRT139, the primary <br />goal of the mitigation excavations, monitoring, and analysis was to <br />absolutely or radiometrically define the age of these features. The <br />dates have already been presented and the following discussion interprets <br />these dates fmn a regional perspective. <br />Reliable radiocarbon dates for Cody Complex manifestations on the <br />Nortknwestern Plains generally cluster at approximately 9000 B.P. (Prison, <br />1960, pp. 33-34). The McKean Ca~lex is an inclusive term used to refer <br />to a number of site assemblages that appear suddenly in previously <br />unoccupied regions, evidenced by an increased emphasis on plant foods, <br />and represented by a wide variety of projectile point types (McKean <br />lanceolate, Mallory, Duncan, and Hannah); radiocarbon dates. for these <br />assemblages range fran 3000 to 5000 B.P., the McKean lanceolate point <br />• occurring at the earlier end of that temporal range (Prison, 1980, <br />pp. 46-50). <br />53 <br />