Late Paleoindian Occupation
of the
Southern Rocky Mountains
Late Paleoindian Occupation
of the
Southern Rocky Mountains
Early Holocene Projectile Points
and Land Use
in the High Country
Early Holocene Projectile Points
and Land Use
in the High Country
Bonnie L. Pitblado
Bonnie L. Pitblado

Late Paleoindian Occupation
of the
Southern Rocky Mountains

Bonnie L. Pitblado
Late Paleoindian Occupation
Southern Rocky Mountains
University Press of Colorado
of the
Early Holocene Projectile Points
and Land Use
in the High Country
© 2003 by the University Press of Colorado
Published by the University Press of Colorado
5589 Arapahoe Avenue, Suite 206C
Boulder, Colorado 80303

a wonderful and inspirational dad and human being,
who I miss terribly.

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xv
Acknowledgments xvii
1 Introduction 1
2 Environment: Modern and Early Holocene 29
3 Hunter-Gatherer Land Use, Lithic Technology, and Late
Paleoindian Occupation of the Project Area 45
4 Projectile Point Analysis Procedure 65
5 Late Paleoindian Projectile Point Typology in the Western
United States 79
6 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Typological Variability 125
7 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Raw Material Variability 145
8 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Qualitative Technological
Variability 175
9 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Quantitative Technological
Variability 201
10 Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: Condition and Reworking 217
11 Discussion and Conclusions 231
Appendix A: Site Coding Guide 249
Appendix B: Projectile Point Coding Guide 255
References 263
Index 285

FIGURES
1.1 Colorado-Utah project area, showing location of Rocky
Mountains, Great Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin 3

5.12 Locations of Pryor Stemmed sites 98
5.13 Lovell Constricted projectile points from the Colorado-
Utah project area 101
5.14 Locations of Lovell Constricted sites 101
5.15 Concave Base Stemmed projectile points from the
Colorado-Utah project area 103
5.16 Locations of Concave Base Stemmed sites 103
5.17 Goshen/Plainview projectile points from the Colorado-
Utah project area 106
5.18 Locations of Goshen/Plainview sites 106
5.19 Agate Basin/Haskett Type II projectile points from the
Colorado-Utah project area 108
5.20 Locations of Agate Basin/Haskett Type II sites 109
5.21 Jimmy Allen/Frederick projectile points from the Colorado-
Utah project area 111
5.22 Locations of Jimmy Allen/Frederick sites 111
5.23 Angostura projectile points from the Colorado-Utah project
area 113
5.24 Locations of Angostura sites 114
5.25 Deception Creek projectile points from the Colorado-Utah
project area 118
5.26 Location of Deep Hearth site (Deception Creek) 118
5.27 Histograms of radiocarbon dates for best-dated projectile
point types 121
5.28 Plot of number of radiocarbon-dated occurrences against
date ranges, all projectile point types 123
6.1 Distribution of eight most common point types in regions of
the project area 130
6.2 Regional distribution of eight most common projectile
point types in Colorado-Utah 133

points 86
5.3 Radiocarbon dates associated with Alberta projectile points 87
5.4 Radiocarbon dates associated with Hell Gap/Haskett Type I
projectile points 90
5.5 Radiocarbon dates associated with Great Basin Stemmed
projectile points 94–96
5.6 Radiocarbon dates associated with Pryor Stemmed projectile
points 97
5.7 Radiocarbon dates associated with Lovell Constricted
projectile points 99
5.8 Radiocarbon dates associated with Goshen/Plainview
projectile points 104–105
5.9 Radiocarbon dates associated with Agate Basin/Haskett
Type II projectile points 108
5.10 Radiocarbon dates associated with Jimmy Allen/Frederick
projectile points 110
5.11 Radiocarbon dates associated with Angostura projectile points 115–116
ILLUSTRATIONSxii
5.12 Median radiocarbon dates and date ranges for projectile
point types 120
6.1 Distribution of projectile point types by physiographic region 127
6.2 Distribution of eight most common projectile point types
by region 129
6.3 Distribution of eight most common projectile point types by
environmental zone 134
6.4 Distribution of eight most common projectile point types in the
Great Basin mountains and Rockies by environmental zone 136
6.5 Elevation statistics for projectile point types 138
6.6 Mean and median elevations for common point types,
Rockies versus non–Rocky Mountain contexts 139

8.9 Flaking intensity statistics for local and exotic stone by
region 195
8.10 Summary of technological variables and land use by region 200
9.1 Basic statistics for eight quantitative observations (all
point types) 203–204
9.2 Statistical significance of regional/environmental
differences in quantified observations 204
9.3 DMax by point type 205
9.4 MW by point type 205
9.5 MT by point type 205
9.6 Wgt by point type 205
9.7 BW by point type 205
9.8 CD by point type 205
9.9 StemRat by point type 206
9.10 EGINDX by point type 206
10.1 Condition of projectile points by region 219
10.2 Presence/absence of reworking by region 223
10.3 Intensity of reworking by region 223
10.4 Nature of reworking by region 223
ILLUSTRATIONSxiv
ILLUSTRATIONS xv
Preface
FOR DECADES, ARCHAEOLOGISTS and others with a passion for prehistory have
been enthralled by Paleoindian sites on the Great Plains and in the Great
Basin of the western United States. The Rocky Mountains that geographi-
cally separate these regions, however, have been the subject of considerably
less attention, although a few hardy archaeologists like Wil Husted, Jim
Benedict, Liz Morris, and George Frison have long stressed their role in the
human story.
Despite the lack of archaeological focus, the Rocky Mountains are vi-

characteristics are evaluated against those predicted by Rocky Mountain
environmental parameters. A match supports the environmentally based land
use model; lack of a match requires hypotheses explaining the dissonance.
Although the foremost goal and accomplishment of the research reported
here is to illuminate late Paleoindian use of the Southern Rocky Mountains,
this comparative project also yields data that answer questions about early
human use of the other regions of the Colorado-Utah project area: the Plains,
Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin. Wherever possible, the book expands
inferences beyond the mountains themselves to the lowland regions that
surround them and form the broader context within which the mountains
must be understood.
The result of this endeavor is twofold. First, the research yields a refined
“big-picture” view of human adaptations in the American West generally
and the Southern Rocky Mountains specifically, circa 10,000–7,500 years
ago. Second, the research yields testable hypotheses about the timing of early
human use of the Rockies, the extent of late Paleoindian use of the Rockies,
and the nature of late Paleoindian settlement strategies in not only the South-
ern Rockies but adjacent regions of the Plains, Colorado Plateau, and Great
Basin as well.
ILLUSTRATIONS xvii
A PROJECT LIKE THIS ONE, which entails extensive travel and contact with doz-
ens of people, rapidly accumulates debts of gratitude. First, I thank Cherie
Freeman and Sam Richings-Germain for the many hours spent helping me.
The value of the time these two wonderful women shared far exceeds any
monetary grant I received. I also thank R. A. Varney for his help with photo-
graphing artifacts and with various other research-related tasks; Jason Porter
for drafting most of the figures for this book; and Beth Ann Camp for me-
ticulously proofreading and creating an index for this manuscript.
Next I thank the many dear friends who shared their lives with me while
I conducted my studies on the road. Jean Kindig let me use a cozy loft in her

committee, I also thank Wil Husted, a pioneer in studies of prehistoric occu-
pation of the Rocky Mountains, for inspiring me with his work and for
hours of great E-mail conversations about mountain Paleoindians.
Financially, this research was made possible primarily thanks to the Na-
tional Science Foundation (SBR-9624373). I also acknowledge funding from
the American Alpine Club, Arizona-Nevada Academy of Sciences, Colorado
Mountain Club, Colorado State University Foundation, Explorers Club,
Graduate Women in Science/Sigma Delta Epsilon, Hyatt Corporation,
Marshall Foundation, and the University of Arizona Anthropology Depart-
ment, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Graduate College.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ILLUSTRATIONS xix
Late Paleoindian Occupation
of the
Southern Rocky Mountains

OVERVIEW
The research reported in this book focuses on late Paleoindian occupa-
tion of the Southern Rocky Mountains, circa 10,000 to 7,500 (uncalibrated
radiocarbon) years ago. The Southern Rockies are an important arena for
study, both because they are a vast and environmentally distinct region with
a potentially unique late Paleoindian prehistory and because they constitute
the geographic interface between physiographic regions with different late
Paleoindian records: the Plains to the east and the Colorado Plateau and
Great Basin to the west.
Paradoxically, given their likely archaeological significance, the Southern
Rockies have been the subject of little Paleoindian-oriented fieldwork, and
the region has received even less consideration as a player in synthetic mod-
els of late Paleoindian occupation of the American West. To be sure, a hand-
ful of researchers (e.g., Benedict 1998, 2000; Black 1991; Husted 1962; Jodry

the issues the research strives to resolve.
To determine the extent of human occupation of the Southern Rockies,
10,000–7,500
B.P., late Paleoindian projectile points from the mountains are
compared to those from adjacent lowland regions according to typology, raw
material use, and technology. The underlying principle is that the more time
people spent in the Rockies, the more their weaponry would have taken on
unique characteristics. By evaluating the extent to which projectile points
from the Rockies differ from or resemble those from adjacent regions, the
degree of late Paleoindian commitment to the mountain environment can
be gauged.
The process for evaluating how late Paleoindian groups utilized the Rocky
Mountain landscape rests upon two well-established anthropological pre-
mises: (1) environment plays an important role in structuring the way hunter-
gatherers use the landscape (e.g., Binford 1980; Kelly 1983); and (2) the way
hunter-gatherers use the landscape structures how they make and use chipped
stone tools (e.g., Bleed 1986; Bousman 1994; Kuhn 1995).
This part of the research proceeds in two phases. First, a chain of infer-
ences links reconstructed environments (including the Rockies) to inferred
late Paleoindian land use strategies (residential versus logistical) and ulti-
INTRODUCTION 3
1.1 Colorado-Utah project area, showing locations of Rocky Mountains, Great Plains,
Colorado Plateau, and Great Basin.
mately to inferred projectile point characteristics. Second, projectile point
technology is investigated directly in the Colorado-Utah assemblage, and
the results are compared to those obtained through inference alone. If the re-
sults converge, the land use strategies derived inferentially are probably accurate;
if they do not, hypotheses must be offered to account for the discrepancy.
The remainder of this introductory chapter delves more deeply into vari-
ous aspects of the project. First, a survey of previous late Paleoindian–oriented