Doctoral Dissertation Research: Folsom Settlement Organization in the Southern Rocky Mountains: An Analysis of Dwelling Space at the Mountaineer Site

Southern Methodist University, Dallas TX

Investigators

Abstract

Under the guidance of Dr. David Meltzer, Brooke Morgan will analyze artifacts recovered during eleven seasons of archaeological excavations (2001 to 2011) from the Mountaineer Folsom-age (~11,000 to 10,000 BP) campsite near Gunnison, Colorado. Perched at 2,630 meters above sea level on Tenderfoot Mountain, the Mountaineer site is within the Upper Gunnison Basin of the Rocky Mountains, an area that experiences some of the coldest winters in the contiguous United States. This environment would have presented unique challenges for hunter-gatherers living at the end of the last ice age. Folsom residential sites, though rare, provide an exceptional opportunity to study a broad range of behaviors - and, by extension, adaptive strategies- that may be unrepresented in other Folsom contexts. The Mountaineer site is particularly important because it is a large Folsom campsite with evidence of multiple architectural structures - some of the oldest shelters in North America. This project has broader impacts beyond contributing to research of Folsom hunter-gatherers. The Mountaineer site was occupied during the Terminal Pleistocene, a time of climate fluctuation and restructuring of natural resources. It is possible that adaptations of Folsom foragers may have operated outside the range of those of modern ethnographic foragers. If this is the case, the project will demonstrate that archaeologists must take a more critical view when comparing modern hunter-gatherers societies with those of the past. The archaeological signature of short-term Folsom sites is well-established, due to the prevalence of kill sites and briefly occupied camps on the North American Great Plains. These sites primarily show evidence of activity specialization (namely, hunting and processing of bison), reflected by a limited tool repertoire of projectile points (i.e. spearheads) and their associated debris. Archaeological focus on these types of sites and the perceived importance of projectile point technology has resulted in the interpretation of Folsom adaptive strategies as minimally variable. However, the Mountaineer site provides an opportunity to expand current knowledge of Folsom lifeways beyond that of highly mobile bison hunters, especially due to the presence of shelters that suggest this group camped for an extended period of time. Ms. Morgan will analyze the Mountaineer stone tool assemblage and conduct spatial analysis to determine the activities carried out by its Folsom occupants. Examination of artifacts associated with the structures will provide important information on how Folsom hunter-gatherers at Mountaineer maintained their camp while surviving harsh environmental conditions. Further, Ms. Morgan will infer economic and social relationships of the site's occupants based on campsite organization. The proposed research will provide a foundation for future research of Paleoindian residential sites and the investigation of hunter-gatherer shelters in other settings. The results will be published in peer-reviewed journals, and the raw data will be accessible both online and in tabular format as dissertation appendices. This project contributes to training Ms. Morgan to be an independent scholar and researcher so that she may acquire the necessary skills of a professional archaeologist. Ms. Morgan will also serve as a guest lecturer at Dallas-area universities to raise public awareness of archaeology.