Formation Processes in Curecanti Archeology: The Elk Creek Site

Summary

Mitigative archeological investigations were conducted in 1983 at the southern end of the important Elk Creek site, 5GN204/205, within Curecanti National Recreation Area prior to construction of a park apartment complex. That portion of the site extended onto a rocky promontory overlooking Blue Mesa Lake. Archeological activities undertaken at the site in 1982 focused upon the western half of the promontory (Jones 1986), while the eastern half of the point was investigated the following year. During the 1983 research, two small chipped-stone concentrations and an isolated projectile point were identified and collected. Stylistic comparisons of several diagnostic artifacts collected in 1983 suggest that an Early or Middle Archaic component was represented.

The 1983 work at Elk Creek provided an opportunity to investigate the role of natural erosion in the formation of the Curecanti archeological record. A statistical analysis performed during the project confirmed an initial field impression that the artifacts within one of the chipped-stone concentrations were roughly size-sorted in the direction of the ground surface slope. Based in part upon an analysis of local weather and physical environmental data, that size distribution of artifacts is believed to relate to a postdepositional restructuring of the material by precipitation runoff in combination with deflation of the deposit by strong western and southwestern winds. The study suggests that ongoing erosion by water and wind operating under the particular environmental conditions of the site area may dramatically affect contextual information given the passage of sufficient time, an issue of importance to archeological research elsewhere within Curecanti and other parks in semiarid settings.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Midwest Archeological Center Technical Reports

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