*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America

DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Kinneer.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2023 Centennial Archaeology conducted data recovery excavation at the Twin Tunnels Site (5CC389) on the north side of I-70 overlooking Clear Creek. The site occupies a transitional environmental zone between the plains to the east and the high country to the west. The excavation produced a diverse...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Brian Andrews.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Studies conducted over the past few decades have demonstrated that Folsom hunter-gatherers were persistent inhabitants of the Southern Rocky Mountains at the end of the Pleistocene. Recent work at the Mountaineer site and the Black Mountain site (as well as previous work in Middle Park and other sites in...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Paul Buckner.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mountain passes were central to high elevation land use in the Southern Rocky Mountains. Rollins Pass, known for its extensive complex of alpine game drives, represents an especially notable example of an accumulated record of precontact occupation. Game drives at Rollins Pass are significant because their...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Ives.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Divergence of the Pacific Coast Dene languages from other Dene languages required both significant time and distance to intervene. Yet, there are several indications that there was some degree of contact between Dene speech communities across the Rockies—especially the oral traditions surrounding Changing...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kevin Gilmore.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Palmer Divide, an upland extending east from the foot of the Southern Rocky Mountains in central Colorado, contains a mosaic of plains and montane biomes and evidence of the people attracted to these resources. Franktown Cave contained an exceptional assemblage of perishable artifacts dated 3300-2500...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Noah Powell.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although Folsom and subsequent Paleoindian groups are well-represented in the intermountain basins of the Rocky Mountains' western slope, Clovis has sometimes eluded archaeologists in those resource-rich environments. The Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB) of Colorado’s southern Rocky Mountains is one such place...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Aaron Whittenburg.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The James Peak Wilderness Archaeological Project was a collaborative project between Gilpin Historical Society and Metcalf Archaeological Consultants and funded by two History Colorado-State Historical Fund archaeological assessment grants. The James Peak Wilderness Archaeological Assessment and the James...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kelly Dick.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Rocky Mountain National Park is located along the Continental Divide of northern Colorado. Park staff strive to be inclusive of ancestrally connected Tribal Nations. Indigenous people have fostered relationships with the plants, animals, and beings that also call these mountains home. The Indigenous...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Jonathan Hedlund.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Relative to the preceding periods, Middle Ceramic to Late Ceramic sites are uncommon in parts of Colorado including the central Southern Rocky Mountains and the Palmer Divide. In these areas, scant radiocarbon dates and the occasional diagnostic artifact hint at continued occupation following the Early...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Sean Larmore.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Southern Rocky Mountains, stretching the length of Colorado and into bordering states, form an impressive wall across the continent. Yet, the region contains resource rich high-altitude basins and alpine environments, made accessible by dozens of passes and divides. Once conceptualized as a cultural...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kelton Meyer.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. For the past twenty years, Folsom archaeology has been principally concerned with documenting variation in mobility choices – and the largest sites have served a central role in this pursuit. We routinely ask questions about the interplay between residential and logistical movements, whether aggregations...

DOCUMENT Citation Only John Chance.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This presentation focuses on the South Park intermontane basin to better understand landscape use and patterns spanning 10,000 years. Since 2014, ERO has documented hundreds of diagnostic artifacts— projectile points and ceramics — often in conjunction with numerous stone features across open parklands,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Chris Johnston.

This is an abstract from the "*A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Indigenous people began using Windy Ridge during the Folsom period and continued mining this high-quality orthoquartzite for the next 11,000 years. The quarry, sitting at roughly 9,300 feet asl about 25 miles southeast of Steamboat Springs, spans nearly 1.5 hectares and contains over 180 pits—which prior...