The Mountaineer Site: A Folsom Winter Camp in the Rockies

by Brian N. Andrews, David J. Meltzer, Mark Stiger

Overview

The Mountaineer Site presents over a decade's worth of archaeological research conducted at Mountaineer, a Paleoindian campsite in Colorado's Upper Gunnison Basin. Mountaineer is one of the very few extensively excavated, long-term Folsom occupations with evidence of built structures. The site provides a rich record of stone tool manufacture and use, as well as architectural features, and offers insight into Folsom period adaptive strategies from a time when the region was still in the grip of a waning Ice Age.

Contributors examine data concerning the structures, the duration and repetition of occupations, and the nature of the site's artifact assemblages to offer a valuable new perspective on human activity in the Rocky Mountains in the Late Pleistocene. Chapters survey the history of fieldwork at the site and compare and explain the various excavation procedures used; discuss the geology, taphonomic history, and geochronology of the site; analyze artifacts and other recovered materials; examine architectural elements; and compare the present and past environments of the Upper Gunnison Basin to gain insight into the setting in which Folsom groups were operating and the resources that were available to them.

The Folsom archaeological record indicates far greater variability in adaptive behavior than previously recognized in traditional models. The Mountaineer Site shows how accounting for reduced mobility, more generalized subsistence patterns, and variability in tool manufacture and use allows for a richer and more accurate understanding of Folsom lifeways. It will be of great interest to graduate students and archaeologists focusing on Paleoindian archaeology, hunter-gatherer mobility, lithic technological organization, and prehistoric households, as well as prehistorians, anthropologists, and social scientists.

Contributors: Richard J. Anderson, Andrew R. Boehm, Christy E. Briles, Katherine A. Cross, Steven D. Emslie, Metin I. Eren, Richard Gunst, Kalanka Jayalath, Brooke M. Morgan, Cathy Whitlock

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646423095
Publisher:	University Press of Colorado
Publication date:	05/16/2022
Pages:	508
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brian N. Andrews is an associate professor of social science in the Department of Psychology and Sociology at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He began working in archaeology as an undergraduate in Oklahoma and has since conducted research throughout the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Eastern Woodlands, focusing on hunter-gatherer lifeways.

David J. Meltzer is the Henderson-Morrison Professor of Prehistory at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and holds an extramural appointment as affiliate professor at the Lundbeck Foundation GeoGenetics Centre, GLOBE Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He has conducted archaeological research throughout North America, collaborated across multiple disciplinary lines, and published 10 books and nearly 200 scientific articles.

Mark Stiger is the Moncrief Chair of Anthropology at Western Colorado University in Gunnison, Colorado. He is the author of Hunter-Gatherer Archaeology of the Colorado High Country and recipient of the Hart Award for Historic Preservation from History Colorado.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

1 Introduction Brian N. Andrews David J. Meltzer Mark Stiger 3

2 Geology, Site Formation, and Geochronology Brian N. Andrews Mark Stiger Brooke M. Morgan Andrew R. Boehm 27

3 The Environmental Context Brian N. Andrews David J. Meltzer Steven D. Emslie Christy E. Briles Cathy Whitlock 50

4 Archaeological Research Design and Field Methods Brian N. Andrews David J. Meltzer Mark Stiger 81

5 Blocks X and Y Andrew R. Boehm Richard J. Anderson 94

6 Spatial Characterization of the Large Rock Patterns in Blocks C, X, and Y Kalanka P. Jayalath Richard F. Gunst David J. Meltzer 110

7 Block A Mark Stiger 133

8 Block B Mark Stiger 174

9 Block C Brooke M. Morgan Brian N. Andrews David J. Meltzer 196

10 Block D Brian N. Andrews 234

11 Block F Mark Stiger 270

12 The Mountaineer Folsom Projectile Point Assemblage David J. Meltzer Metin I. Eren 296

13 A Quantitative Test of Folsom Unifacial Tool Recycling in Block C Metin I. Eren Katherine A. Cross Brian N. Andrews David J. Meltzer 359

14 The Mountaineer Faunal Remains Andrew R. Boehm 368

15 The Mountaineer Site: Summary and Conclusions David J. Meltzer Brian N. Andrews Mark Stiger 394

Appendix: Field Procedures and Protocols 425

References 439

Index 485

Authors 497

Editorial Reviews

“Every archaeologist should be interested in this book given the various novel analytical techniques.”
—Marcel Kornfeld, University of Wyoming
 
“This volume does a remarkable job of pulling together the vast amount of data that was generated in the eleven years of fieldwork at the site and integrating these findings into the regional record, broadening our understanding of Folsom adaptations in the West.”
—Briggs Buchanan, University of Tulsa
 

From the Publisher