Dolores Archaeological Program: Studies in Environmental Archaeology

Summary

This report presents some of the results of the Environmental Studies Group (1979-1981) and the Environmental Archaeology Group (1981-1983) of the Dolores Archaeological Program. The Dolores Archaeological Program was funded by the Bureau of Reclamation as part of the Dolores Project Cultural Resources Mitigation Program, responsible for the mitigation of impacts on cultural resources to be affected by construction of a multipurpose water storage and distribution system on the Dolores River in Montezuma County, southwestern Colorado. The chapters in this report summarize the basic data on the present environment of the project including climate, flora, fauna, and geology. They also evaluate the work accomplished by the Environmental Studies Group and report on the efforts to reconstruct the prehistoric environment at the time the Dolores Anasazi occupied the project area, from ca. A.D. 600 to some time after A.D. 950. In addition, the results of literature searches and preliminary data on geology, and botanical and faunal remains recovered through archaeological excavation are presented and the final chapter gives some indication of the current direction of the Environmental Archaeology Group. The data in this report support the efforts of the Dolores Archaeological Program to both reconstruct and model the lifeways of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Dolores River valley and the adjacent uplands.

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Record Identifiers

Bureau of Reclamation(s): 8-07-40-S0562

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