Investigating High-Altitude Campsites in the Rocky Mountains: A Decade Later

Summary

Interpreting past hunter-gatherer use of mountains has been hampered through the years by difficult access, excessive ground vegetation, and wilderness restrictions. With the regular occurrence of forest fires that have exposed hundreds of sites during the last decade, our knowledge of campsite structure and landscape use has dramatically improved. We now know that remote campsites often contain tens of thousands of artifacts that represent a greater commitment to mountain resources and places than previously considered. What used to be rare is no longer unusual but is nonetheless still impressive. In this paper, we focus on a three-year project at the Caldwell Creek site (48FR7091) in the Absaroka Mountains of Wyoming. In addition to an overwhelming number of lithic flakes, a 2011 fire also revealed diagnostic Late Period artifacts, including projectile points, knives/bifaces, and the largest number of Intermountain Ware ceramics found in the state. We discuss these assemblages as well as new recording methodologies employed to document these types of sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage