Rocky Mountain Paleo Note

[uniface]

Old news encountered today. Conference speaker synopsis, FWIW :

The first human uses of the southern Rocky Mountains were reconstructed from the distributions of Paleoindian projectile point types by Bonnie Pitblado (UA). She pointed out that fluted points are rare, and Angostura points are the most commonly found Paleoindian point type in that region. Based on the known time span of this type, the initial occupation of the higher elevations of western North America can be bracketed between 9,700 and 7,500 radiocarbon years b.p. (uncalibrated). Site locations and artifact characteristics indicate that this late Paleoindian population lived in the mountains year-round, was adapted to highland environments, and was distinct from its contemporaries in the West.

Because the most common type of early point in the Great Basin and on the Colorado Plateau is the Great Basin Stemmed, Pitblado suggested that the early Holocene populations of these regions were related. However, Angostura points are the second most common type of early point on the Colorado Plateau and in the mountains at the basin-plateau interface; its prominent presence may indicate a relationship with the late Paleoindian population of the southern Rockies, as well.

Paleoindian Origins and Colonization of the Americas Discussed at Arizona State University | The Center for Desert Archaeology - Southwest Preservation Archaeology

[justonemore]

Thanks for the info, that link and many of those attached to it very interesting.