Paleoindian archaeology of the Upper Gunnison Basin, Colorado Rocky Mountains

Abstract

The past two decades have seen a fluorescence of work at Paleoindian sites in Colorado’s Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB). This article presents and synthesizes the results of that work in two parts, the first, a landscape-scale analysis of 82 UGB Paleoindian components as reported in Colorado state site files; the second, a higher-resolution analysis of Paleoindian sites excavated in recent years. Conclusions include that starting as early as Folsom time, Paleoindian groups occupied the UGB year-round, and that UGB Paleoindian settlement strategies varied significantly both synchronically and diachronically. Both findings relate in large part to the enormously diverse resource base of the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Rocky Mountains in general and UGB in particular.