Early Human Occupation of the Colorado Headwaters Region: An Archeological Reconnaissance

Abstract

T I lHE reconstruction of past culture areas, says Carl Sauer,, a slow task of detective work, the collecting of evidence and the weaving of it together. And, continues, it calls for a regional specialist; he must not only know the region as it appears today; must know its lineaments so well that can find in it the traces of the past, and must know its qualities so well that can see it as it was under past situations. In the study of ancient human cultures, the detective work becomes almost as difficult as that needed to solve a perfect crime and requires the weighing of evidence in many fields. The problem of the prehistoric human activities in the Colorado headwaters area, herein to be described, is typical. The archeological evidence is almost meaningless until the past and present geographic background is understood. Then, against the background of local geography, geology, and meteorology, the cultural remains can be fitted into a consistent and plausible picture. The evidence here reported indicates that from the beginning of human occupation of the area, not much more than 4000 years ago, until I879, when the last of the Uncompahgre Utes were deported to southwestern Colorado, the aboriginal inhabitants established an extensive network of trails, connecting strategic quarries, camps, passes, fords, and hunting grounds. Many of these trails, because of geographic conditions still existing, followed the approximate courses of modern roads and trails. That this ancient trail system extended outside the region described may be assumed with some confidence, determination of the exact routes awaiting only further field investigations.