Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country Bonnie L. Pitblado Bonnie L. Pitblado Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Bonnie L. Pitblado Late Paleoindian Occupation Southern Rocky Mountains University Press of Colorado of the Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country © 2003 by the University Press of Colorado Published by the University Press of Colorado 5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C Boulder, Colorado 80303 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The University Press of Colorado is a proud member of the Association of American University Presses. The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern Colorado, University of Southern Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48- 1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Pitblado, Bonnie L., 1968– Late Paleoindian occupation of the southern Rocky Mountains : early Holocene projectile points and land use in the high country / Bonnie L. Pitblado. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87081-728-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Paleo-Indians—Colorado. 2. Paleo-Indians—Utah. 3. Paleo-Indians—Rocky Mountains. 4. Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric—Rocky Mountains. 5. Projectile points—Rocky Mountains. 6. Colorado—Antiquities. 7. Utah—Antiquities. I. Title. E78.C6 P58 2003 978.8—dc21 2003000199 Designed and Typeset by Laura Furney 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To my husband, Joe Dulin, without whom nothing would be worthwhile; and to Dr. Colin Pitblado, a wonderful and inspirational dad and human being, who I miss terribly. Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii 1 Introduction 1 2 Environment: Modern and Early Holocene 29 3 Hunter-Gatherer Land Use, Lithic Technology, and Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Project Area 45 4 Projectile Point Analysis Procedure 65 5 Late Paleoindian Projectile Point Typology in the Western United States 79 6 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Typological Variability 125 7 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Raw Material Variability 145 8 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Qualitative Technological Variability 175 9 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Quantitative Technological Variability 201 10 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Condition and Reworking 217 11 Discussion and Conclusions 231 Appendix A: Site Coding Guide 249 Appendix B: Projectile Point Coding Guide 255 References 263 Index 285 [...]... indirectly and two directly: late Paleoindian chronology, the relationship of the Rockies to the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin, the extent of Rocky Mountain occupation (full-time versus part-time), and the nature of Rocky Mountain late Paleoindian land use The current view of Rocky Mountain Paleoindian chronology assigns a date of circa 10,000 B.P to the fluorescence of mountain occupation and the divergence... sporadic, or a combination thereof; and (2) how late Paleoindian land use strategies in the Rocky Mountain environment are most appropriately characterized EXTENT OF LATE PALEOINDIAN OCCUPATION OF THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES The basic premise underlying the attempt to define the extent of late Paleoindian use of the Rockies is that the more time people spent in the mountains 10,000–7,500 years ago, the more likely... FIGURES Colorado- Utah project area, showing location of Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin Locations of late Paleoindian sites in the Rocky Mountains mentioned in text Relationship among environment, hunter-gatherer land use, and technology Hypothetical example of the relationship among environment, late Paleoindian land use, and projectile point technology Rocky Mountain environmental... the Southern Rocky Mountains specifically, circa 10,000–7,500 years ago Second, the research yields testable hypotheses about the timing of early human use of the Rockies, the extent of late Paleoindian use of the Rockies, and the nature of late Paleoindian settlement strategies in not only the Southern Rockies but adjacent regions of the Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin as well ILLUSTRATIONS... the environmentally based land use model; lack of a match requires hypotheses explaining the dissonance Although the foremost goal and accomplishment of the research reported here is to illuminate late Paleoindian use of the Southern Rocky Mountains, this comparative project also yields data that answer questions about early human use of the other regions of the Colorado- Utah project area: the Plains,... Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin Wherever possible, the book expands inferences beyond the mountains themselves to the lowland regions that surround them and form the broader context within which the mountains must be understood The result of this endeavor is twofold First, the research yields a refined “big-picture” view of human adaptations in the American West generally and the Southern Rocky Mountains. .. Extent of use of the Rockies and typology distribution correlates 16 1.2 Extent of use and expected raw material selection in the Southern Rockies 18 1.3 Extent of use of the Southern Rockies and expected technological correlates 20 1.4 Extent of use of the Rockies and corresponding expectations: projectile point typology, raw material use, and technology 23 3.1 Accessibility of primary production and. .. mountain existence To evaluate the nature of late Paleoindian use of the Rockies, a chain of inferences is built linking regional environments to inferred land use strategies (“logistical” versus “residential”) and inferred land use strategies to likely projectile point characteristics Then, actual Southern Rockies projectile point characteristics are evaluated against those predicted by Rocky Mountain... for assessing whether a dichotomy akin to that of the Rockies-Plains characterized the relationship between the Rockies and regions to the west The extent and nature of late Paleoindian use of the Rockies are the two problems at the heart of the research, and they are intimately related to one another It is difficult to characterize the nature of mobility without first assessing whether the Rockies... role in structuring the way huntergatherers use the landscape (e.g., Binford 1980; Kelly 1983); and (2) the way hunter-gatherers use the landscape structures how they make and use chipped stone tools (e.g., Bleed 1986; Bousman 1994; Kuhn 1995) This part of the research proceeds in two phases First, a chain of inferences links reconstructed environments (including the Rockies) to inferred late Paleoindian . Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country Early. Paleoindian Occupation Southern Rocky Mountains University Press of Colorado of the Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country © 2003 by the University Press of Colorado Published. Country Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country Bonnie L. Pitblado Bonnie L. Pitblado Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains Bonnie L. Pitblado Late Paleoindian