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occurred at least once at approximately 6000 B.P. with a less Likely • <br />but later occ~naation at ca. 1100 B.P. The earlier dates do :not support <br />a temporal assignation to the Paleo-Indian CAdy Complex which earlier <br />workers at the site made based on the surface recovery of two diagnostic <br />Scottsbluff II projectile points. The fact that one of these points is <br />resharpened suggests reuse by the occupan`s of SRT139 rather than Paleo- <br />Indian affiliation. A Middle Archaic P4ciCean Complex affiliation, <br />posited co the basis of the subsurface recovery of the basal portion of <br />a McKean lanceolate point, is possible even thou3h the dates are tAo <br />early for those generally agreed upon for the Middle Archaic, 3000-5000 <br />B.P. Investigations at sites on the eastern slope of the Colorado <br />Rockies have allowed scare researchers to advance an hypothesis that <br />human groups returned to the mountains of Colorado at approximately <br />6000 B.P. after having abandoned those locales for a millenia and a , <br />half due to dry, Altithermal climatic conditions. Such a scenario is <br />a feasible explanation of the occl~ation of SRT139 on the western slope <br />of the same Colorado Rockies. • <br />5RT139 probably represents a seasonally occupied campsite established <br />for the purpose of procuring large game animals. Forays could have been <br />made fran this ].scale to areas to the south and west which are presently <br />critical winter habitats for deer and elk. Meat would have been cut in <br />manageable portions at the kill site, transported bade to the caunpsite, <br />placed in skin or fiber bags, and cooked in the campfire for preservative <br />purposes. The meat later would be carried bade to a more permanent base <br />~ which was probably locate3 at a more climatically hospitable eleva- <br />tion. A modest duration (days or weeks) of occupation, or multiple <br />occupations, is suggested by the occurrence of firehearths that have <br />been cleaned out at least once. Artifactual evidence recovered from <br />the site also indicates that the hearths were used as heat sources for <br />thermally treating lithic materials. The evidence is too scanty, however, <br />to assess the frequency of these activities, to determine whether it was <br />a sporadic or regular occurrence. The exploitation of local floral <br />resources, while it is presumed to have occurred, is considered to have • <br />been of trivial importanco. <br />58 <br />