A Multi-Method Approach to Dating: Persistent Occupation of the Alpine Tundra at Rollins Pass, Colorado

Meyer, Kelton A.

doi:10.1080/00934690.2020.1861499

Cited by 3 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…In the Bayesian analysis of Model A, this time frame corresponds with the earliest portion of the game drive tradition phase which is supported by low quantities of 14 C dates collected by soil cores in blinds from several sites in the sample. Mount Albion projectile points have been found across the surface of numerous game drives in the Southern Rockies (LaBelle and Pelton 2013), including the recently published High Grade site (Meyer 2019(Meyer , 2021. It is remarkable, however, that Mount Albion points have not been reported in direct association with driveline intercept areas for sites with demonstrated survey coverage (e.g., Meyer 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mount Albion projectile points have been found across the surface of numerous game drives in the Southern Rockies (LaBelle and Pelton 2013), including the recently published High Grade site (Meyer 2019(Meyer , 2021. It is remarkable, however, that Mount Albion points have not been reported in direct association with driveline intercept areas for sites with demonstrated survey coverage (e.g., Meyer 2019). Seven of the game drive sites in the sample have produced time-diagnostic artifacts within hunting blinds (Table 3), amounting to 55 projectile points and one glass trade bead.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The complete set of 14 C dates includes 89 dates from 17 driveline sites (Benedict 1975a(Benedict , 1975b(Benedict , 1978(Benedict , 1979(Benedict , 1996(Benedict , 2000Hutchinson 1990;Cassells 1995;Benedict and Cassells 2000;Brunswig 2005;LaBelle and Pelton 2013;Whittenburg 2017;Meyer 2021). The drivelines cover more than 38,000 km 2 in the Southern Rockies, but the Front Range massif and the Sawatch Range contain dense concentrations of dated sites (Figure 1).…”

Section: Radiocarbon Datesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Email: Kelton.Meyer@colostate.edu ( 14 C) dates mirrors this long span of use, but many of the dated samples lack clear association to game drive features. For several sites, lichenometric dating of stone walls helps to strengthen chronologies that suffer from a shortage of 14 C dates (Benedict 1975a;Benedict 1985;Hutchinson 1990;Cassells 1995;Benedict 1996;LaBelle and Pelton 2013;Meyer 2021). The size-frequency method of lichenometry accounts for the growth rate of Rhizocarpon rhizocarpon (hereafter Rhizocarpon sp.)…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The chronology of driveline hunting in Colorado has never received formal analysis, but it is generally accepted that the tradition spans several millennia (Benedict 2005a:429). Artifacts documented during surface surveys indicate use of stone drivelines may have occurred as early as the Late Paleoindian period (e.g., Benedict 2000), but continued throughout the Archaic (7500–1800 BP) and Late Prehistoric (1800–400 BP) to the mid-to-late 1800s AD (Cassells 1995; LaBelle and Pelton 2013; Whittenburg 2017; Meyer 2021). The legacy set of radiocarbon ( 14 C) dates mirrors this long span of use, but many of the dated samples lack clear association to game drive features.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Symbiosis of Lichenometry and Radiocarbon Dating: A Bayesian Chronology of Alpine Hunting in Colorado’s Southern Rocky Mountains, Usa

Meyer

2023

Radiocarbon

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Archaeologists keep a limited arsenal of methods for dating stone features at alpine sites. Radiocarbon (14C) dating is rarely possible, and it is common that dates do not accurately represent the activity of interest (stone feature construction). In this paper I review a legacy set of 89 14C dates for stone driveline sites built by hunter-gatherers in Colorado’s Southern Rocky Mountains. I amend the sample of dates using chronometric hygiene and focus on dates with direct association to hunting features. I then present a newly calibrated set of 29 lichenometric dates for rock features at these sites and use hygiene protocols to remove inaccurate dates. Size-frequency lichenometry, though poorly known in archaeology, provides a way to date stone features indirectly by measuring the growth of long-lived lichens that colonize rock surfaces after construction events. Bayesian modeling of the combined set of dates suggests that the tradition of alpine game driving spans over 6000 years BP, with abundant use over the last 2000 years. Archaeologists must use multiple methods for dating stone features in alpine environments. This Bayesian analysis is a formal effort to combine lichenometry and 14C dating for archaeological interpretation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Radiocarbon Datesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Symbiosis of Lichenometry and Radiocarbon Dating: A Bayesian Chronology of Alpine Hunting in Colorado’s Southern Rocky Mountains, Usa

Meyer

2023

Radiocarbon

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Hunting Traps, Jumps, and Kill Sites

Hill¹

2024

Encyclopedia of Archaeology (Second Edition)

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Paleoecological and Archaeological Investigation of the ROMO 9 Ice Patch, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

LaBelle

Meyer

2021

JGA

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Rocky Mountain National Park contains a dense record of prehistoric Native American archaeological locales and biological resources, but questions remain about the past use of the Park’s ice patches by ancient humans and animals. Our survey of 30 locations in the Park revealed that the majority of ice patches are small in size and contain limited evidence of past visitation by mobile peoples, but moderate use by game. In this paper, we present new radiocarbon dates for materials documented in the recently melted forefield of the ROMO 9 ice patch, a mid-sized ice body located in alpine tundra along the Continental Divide. Dated materials include timber-sized pine trees, keratin and bone collagen from large game (bighorn sheep, elk), and a possible wooden artifact made from Mountain mahogany. Results suggest most finds date to several periods of known neoglaciation, during the mid-Holocene (c. 4150 cal BP) and the Little Ice Age (c. 115 cal BP). Our results corroborate past findings on mid-Holocene timberline in the Colorado Front Range, as well as the paucity of archaeological evidence from small ice patches in Colorado.

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A Multi-Method Approach to Dating: Persistent Occupation of the Alpine Tundra at Rollins Pass, Colorado

Cited by 3 publications

References 73 publications

The Symbiosis of Lichenometry and Radiocarbon Dating: A Bayesian Chronology of Alpine Hunting in Colorado’s Southern Rocky Mountains, Usa

The Symbiosis of Lichenometry and Radiocarbon Dating: A Bayesian Chronology of Alpine Hunting in Colorado’s Southern Rocky Mountains, Usa

Hunting Traps, Jumps, and Kill Sites

Paleoecological and Archaeological Investigation of the ROMO 9 Ice Patch, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA

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