New Archaeological Data on Ephemeral Post-Early Ceramic Occupations Marked by Mobility and Diversity

Summary

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 Ceramic period. Recently, ERO Resources Corporation (ERO) completed excavations of four new sites with Middle to Late Ceramic radiocarbon dates, diagnostic projectile points, and Western Dismal River Gray Ware sherds. Analysis is ongoing, but ERO's initial results indicate that these open air and rockshelter sites represent activities left by people with high residential mobility, familiarity with regional lithic resources, and access to maize. The assemblages also reflect diversity in technological or cultural traditions in the manufacture of projectile point types and ceramics. Unlike sites from earlier periods, which often exhibit dense clusters of basin hearths and earth ovens surrounded by ground stone, features at these later sites are limited to surface hearths, if present, and small amounts of ground stone. This presentation provides new perspective into a context that derives most of its data from excavations prior to the 1970s, near surface excavations, individual pot-drops, and components often represented by a single hearth.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• *A New Look at the Southern Rocky Mountains: Crossroads of Western North America

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51985