Late Pleistocene Hunter-Gatherer Social and Spatial Organization in the Southern Rocky Mountains

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Through National Science Foundation support, Drs. Nicole Waguespack, Todd Surovell, and Marcel Kornfeld will investigate late Pleistocene social organization and economic relationships among Folsom peoples as expressed through the spatial configuration of artifacts and site features. Two field seasons of archaeological excavation, subsurface reconnaissance, and spatial analysis of the Folsom deposits at Barger Gulch, Locality B (5GA195) will be completed. This research will focus on three primary issues: identifying site structure and organization through the distribution and content of spatial clustering among artifacts; detecting the presence and extent of economic relationships between site occupants; and documenting the spatial and technological organization of behaviors within and between different site areas in order to identify dimensions of technological organization. Detailed spatial investigation of the Barger Gulch site will provide insight into one, of very few, Folsom residential sites employing rigorous methods of excavation and analysis, and contribute to refining and developing spatial analytical techniques applicable to archaeological interpretation of past human behavior. The proposed research will also provide a valuable dataset from which future comparative studies of Paleoindian site/social organization can be made and contribute to larger issues of past and present hunter-gatherer socioeconomic diversity. The project is designed to explore questions of Folsom social organization, both complimenting and expanding upon current interpretations of Folsom lifeways. Spatial data has proved a valuable component for discerning forager social and economic relationships in both ethnographic and archaeological contexts. Detailed analysis and documentation of spatial trends at Barger Gulch provides a unique opportunity to examine the social context of prehistoric hunter-gatherer behavior. The Barger Gulch site, located in an intermontane basin of Middle Park, Colorado, contains deposits which document the diversity of behaviors that occurred at a 10,500 year old hunter-gatherer residential site. Previous archaeological investigations have established that a large area of the site remains intact, and that spatial integrity of cultural materials is preserved. Objectives included expansion of the excavation area to encompass a minimum of 110 m2, magnetometer survey, and spatial analysis of cultural materials and features. Excavation will focus on creating a large horizontal exposure to detect artifact clusters and features. The laboratory phase of the project will involve detailed study of chipped stone and fauna. Excavations and laboratory work at Barger Gulch will provide opportunities to train and provide employment to students in modern archaeological field methods, lithic analysis, and survey techniques. Members of various amateur archaeological and historical societies are invited to visit and participate in fieldwork in order to promote public awareness and understanding of archaeological research. All cultural material and data from the project will be accessible to additional researchers, and data from the project will be made available for thesis and dissertation research.