This project was undertaken to mitigate the adverse effects of a proposed land sale on two prehistoric camp sites (5RB4558 and 5RB8902) located in the Strawberry Creek area of Northwest Colorado. These sites were determined eligible as part of a 2018 inventory. A research design for the mitigation of the sites was prepared by Lukas W. Trout, Archaeologist for the Bureau of Land Management’s White River Field Office. The research emphasis and the objectives outlined in that design were two-fold: (1) archaeological and environmental data recovery and description, and (2) the synthesis and interpretation of the recovered archaeological materials.
Fieldwork for the data recovery occurred between May 1st and June 15th 2020. Thermal features were excavated at each site, and provided radiocarbon data of the their occupation during the same period about 1700 years ago. Macrobotanical samples gathered from the hearth features provided information about the season of occupation and the plants being used. Pollen samples indicated plants growing in the surrounding landscape and implied conditions of a wet environment present during that period. Fire-altered rocks recovered from the feature at 5RB4558 were subjected to protein analyses and indicated the cooking of lean meat.
Excavation of the required 2x2-meter units around the thermal feature in 5RB8902 revealed post impressions of a surface habitation structure. Expansion of the excavation area into a 3x3-meter square revealed impressions of eight posts situated in a circular pattern two meters in diameter with an apparent doorway facing east – characteristics of a small, conical, post-framed lodge. It was apparently assembled just after or during a storm that softened the clayey surface soil so that post and other impressions were formed. Namely, the additional excavations also revealed several moccasin prints and a deer track preserved in the hardened clay of the structure’s floor.
This study has presented information that can be used to better identify cultural components of single- or several-component open camps. As well, it has provided evidence that radiocarbon dating of the small camps (and not comparative diagnostic analysis) is the only way to accurately determine the regional distribution of various cultural groups’ activities and thus glean some idea of their purpose. Accordingly, the scientific potentials of 5RB4558 and the BLM portion of 5RB8902 have been exhausted and no further work is recommended.
To learn more about the work conducted on these sites, click here:
The Uncompahgre Plateau Project: Projectile Point Typology and Chronometry. Prepared by Michael Berry, Principal Investigator, Masha Conner, Photographer, and Nicole Inman and Carl Conner, Administration for the History Colorado State Historical Fund (Project No. 2018-02-035).
Abstract: This is one of a series of projects undertaken by Dominquez Archaeological Research Group (DARG) to expand understanding of Uncompahgre Plateau prehistory. The initial objective was a reassessment of the Uncompahgre Complex as defined by Marie Wormington and Robert Lister in the 1950s and later expanded upon by William Buckles in 1971. The project quickly evolved into a focus on the development of temporally diagnostic projectile points. Initially, 250 projectile points were analyzed via hierarchical cluster analysis followed by discriminant function analysis. A norming sample of 80 points, divided into eight types, was devised and the Fisher's unstandardized functions were used to classify the remaining specimens. Forty-one radiocarbon samples from the Buckles' collection held by the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum, Dolores, Colorado were submitted for AMS dating. These and an additional 247 Uncompahgre Plateau dates available on the Colorado Radiocarbon Database provided the chronometric underpinning for the project. Bayesian analyses of the radiocarbon dates juxtaposed with the stratigraphic occurrence of the derived projectile point types provide a provisional chronological baseline for the Uncompahgre Plateau.
Selected Reports
A Reexamination of the Uncompahgre Complex: A Re-analysis of the Moore Site (5MN863), Montrose County, Colorado. Prepared by Principal Investigator: Michael Pointkowski; Faunal Analysis Specialist, Holly Shelton; Lithic Materials Specialist, Courtney Groff; Graphic Artists, Masha Conner, and Thuong Pham; Administrative Staff, Nicole Inman; and Editors, Carl Conner and Barbara Davenport for the History Colorado State Historical Fund (Project No. 2016-AS-007), July 2017.
This is a Colorado State Historic Fund grant (2016-AS-007) related project undertaken by Dominquez Archaeological Research Group for the purpose of conducting a re-analysis of the Moore site (5MN864), located on the Uncompahgre Plateau, west of Olathe. The site was excavated in late 1930s by Dr. Marie Wormington of the Denver Natural History Museum. During those excavations, a number of artifacts were recovered, which were the topic of this project and were subjected to typological, lithic source, and tool use analysis. This project entailed the transportation of the Moore site collection, stored at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS) to Grand Junction for inventory and description. A portion of time was spent separating Moore site artifacts from that of the Taylor, Alva, and Casebier sites, which were curated with them because of the catalog numbering method that grouped artifacts by the illustrations in the DMNS report (Wormington and Lister 1956). Although the project’s focus was the examination of artifacts held in collections of the DMNS, some fieldwork was involved for the remapping of the site to determine the location of the 1937-1939 excavations and to record the rock art panel locations. Temporally diagnostic artifacts that were identified in the collections indicate occupation from as early as the Middle Archaic through Late Prehistoric times. Based on the mapping and reconstruction of the 1937 through 1939 excavations of the site, it is evident that research potential remains for defining local chronology, subsistence, seasonality, and paleoenvironmental conditions through additional excavation at this site.
The project report, edited for general release, is available here.
Falls Creek Rockshelters Archaeological Assessment Project - Phase II. Prepared by Karen R. Adams, Michael Berry, Mona Charles, Sally Cole, Phil R. Gieb, Carole L. Graham, Kristina Horton, Edward A. Jolie, Cerisa R. Reynolds, M. Steven Shackley, Laurie D. Webster, coordinated by Julie A. Coleman, San Juan National Forest Archaeologist and compiled by Carl E. Conner. Prepared for History Colorado State Historical Fund Grant Project 2012-01-038 and under San Juan National Forest Assistance Agreement, October 2014
Dominquez Archaeological Research Group, Inc. (DARG) and their associated researchers partnered with the San Juan National Forest and the State Historical Fund to conduct the “Reevaluation of Basketmaker II from the Falls Creek Rockshelters, Phase II” as outlined in the State Historical Fund grant (Project # 2012-01-038) This second phase of the Falls Creek Rockshelter project focused on the analyses of the non-NAGPRA Basketmaker II materials from the Falls Creek Rockshelter. The first phase of the project, which was completed in 2012, focused on the analysis of the NAGPRA related collections from the Falls Creek Rockshelters. With the completion of this project, we now have a more holistic understanding of the Basketmaker II occupation of Falls Creek. The Falls Creek Basketmaker II project has contributed very significant data regarding the earliest phase in the development of agricultural societies in the Southwest. DARG would like to thank the State Historical Fund and the San Juan National Forest for their support of this important research.
The results of Phase I and Phase II were shared with other professionals at the 2012 American Association of Physical Anthropologists Meeting, the 2013 Society of American Archaeology (SAA) annual meeting, and in 2014 with the Hopi Cultural Resource Advisory Task Team (CRATT).
The project report, edited for general release, is available here.
Archaeological Investigations at the McClane Rockshelter 5GF741 Garfield County, Colorado. Prepared by Karen R. Adams, Michael Berry, Mona Charles, Sally Cole, Phil R. Gieb, Carole L. Graham, Kristina Horton, Edward A. Jolie, Cerisa R. Reynolds, M. Steven Shackley, and Laurie D. Webster. Compiled by Carl Conner. Prepared by Michael Berry, Carl E. Conner, and James C. Miller, DARG, July 2013
Cultural deposits ranging in age from about 4200 to 300 years ago were encountered, primarily in four cultural levels. Based on the distribution of thermal and storage features, certain inferences can be made about the utilization of the rock shelter over time. The three oldest occupations (ca. 4000 BP, 3400 BP, and 3000 BP) that occurred in CL-IV and CL-III indicate use of the shelter similar to the open, shallow-basin, architectural features (house pits) previously recorded in the region. The overhang during those periods had a roof clearance between 1.4 and 1.6 meters, which is comparable to that of Sisyphus Shelters’ internal house features dating to the Late (ca. 2400 BP) and possibly the Middle Archaic (ca. 3400 BP) occupations.
In addition, within the McClane Rockshelter, thermal features recorded for the three oldest dated occupations were centrally located and storage features were present at the back of the shelter. If the shelter were used during the winter, it is easy to imagine that a pole and/or brush wall was built around the perimeter of the overhang ledge to help retain heat. Taken together the storage structures, a centrally placed hearth feature, a pole or brush surround, and a 10 square meter enclosed floor would infer use of the shelter as a winter base camp for as many as 8-10 people. Another centrally placed thermal feature from CL-I (dating ca 1230 BP) may also be an indication that a wood surround was built during this time but no storage features or other indications of such are present. Notably, all the other thermal features were placed either at the dripline or the back of the shelter, a strategy that would heat the shelter without a wood surround structure, which in turn indicates short-term stays during somewhat warmer periods of the year.
The project report, edited for the general public, is available here.
Cultural Resource Inventory of 87 Acres in Blue Creek and Documentation of the Vandalism at Site 5ME17922 in Mesa County, Colorado. Prepared by Carl E. Conner, Principal Investigator, Nicole Darnell and Dakota N. Kramer for the Bureau of Land Management Grand Junction Field Office (2011).
Dominquez Archaeological Research Group conducted an intensive Class III inventory for the BLM Grand Junction Field Office. A total of 87 acres were surveyed along Blue Creek in Mesa County, Colorado. The documentation of the vandalism at 5ME17922 included the recovery of three radiocarbon samples that were sent to Beta Analytic, Inc. Two of these were collected from the wall of Vandal Pit 16: one sample from the lowest stratum yielded a conventional radiocarbon age of ca. BC 5990 to 5840 (Beta No. 290570); and, the second, gleaned from Stratum III, yielded a conventional radiocarbon age of ca. BC 530 to 400 (Beta No. 290569). The third sample, a maize cob collected near the surface of Vandal Pit 13, provided a conventional age of ca. AD570 to 650 (Beta No. 290568).
