Southwestern Lore
OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONTHE COLORADO ARCHAEOLOGICAL $ocJETY
Vol. XXVIII DECDfBER, 1962 No. 3
• • • •
•
• • • • • • • • • • • a • • • •
• • • • •
• • a
• • • • • • • a • a • • •
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE BLUE MESA RESERVOIR,COLORADO By ROBERT H. LISTER I~TRODUCTlON
On 5 January 1962, the University of Colorado agreed to conduct an anhacological survey of the reservoir area or the Blue l\f esa unit of the Curecanti Project on the Gunnison River and its tributaries in west central Colorado for the National Park Service. Purchase Order (R O 33-111) was issued b} Region Three to cover the expeme of the \un·ey and preparation of a report on the findings.
The area covered by the sun·ey includes the resen·oir proper, borrow pits adjacent to the dam site, and the right of way of the relocated portions of U.S. Highway 50. At full pool stage the re~en·oir will extend cast 18 miles from the dam in the mouth of Black Canyon near Sapinero to slightly above the community of Hierro. Water will back into sc,·eral drainages tributary to the Gunnison Ri,·cr. The lower six miles of the Lake Fork of the Gunnison will be inundated, as" ill four miles of Soap Creek, two and one half miles of West Elk Creek and three miles of Ccbolla Creek.
An initial sun·cy of the area was conducted between 20 and 21 April to define the limits of the rescn·oir, to check on the roads and trails of the region, and to obtain information from local informants relati\'e to archaeo-logical sites in the \'icinity. Between 3 and 8 June a party of four surveyed a large section of the area and at intcr\'als during the remainder o( June, parties from a base camp near ~lontrose completed the survey.
The surve) was facilitated by the network of roads that existed prior to the clam project as well as the numerous newl) bulldoLccl trails that have been created as a result of attiYities of the dam. highway, and power line projects. It was possible to maneuYer four-wheel drhe Yehicles throughout the entire area with the exception of Lake Fork and a portion of Cebolla Creek. The actual sun•cy was accomplished on foot b} members of the field parties who examined every portion of the described area that offered even the remotest possibility of containing archaeological remains . . \rchaeological survey sheets were completed for each site recorded, photographs were made of most, and surface collections were obtained. Some helpful infom1ation was obtained from local informants as well as from records compiled by the late Professor C. T. Hurst of Western State College, Gunnison.
The following pel"'om participated in all or various aspects of the project: Rol,ert H. Lister, William G. Buckles, Joseph Lischka, Duane Quiatt, and Frank Lister.
-11-( _
THE BLUE ~JES.\ RESERVOIR
The elevation of land to be flooded by the Blue Mesa Reservoir ranges
from approximately 7,200 to 7,516 feet. Hills and mountains immediately
adjacent to the re,ervoir on both the north and south rise to heights of
be-tween 8,000 and 8,500 feet. Streamside vegetation consists of deme fringes of couomvoo<ls and willows and such shrubs as alder, dogwood, wild rose, and
other small shrubs. Farmlands occupy nearly all the flatter parts of the
valleys and extend to some of the foothills where canals furnish water. Hay
i, the principal crop. Many of the terraces, benches, or mesas above the valley bottoms also have been transformed into farm lands. The few terraces that are left arc usually dominated by rabbit bush. On the hillsides, big
sagebrush is universally present except in protected places where oak, choke-cherries, service berry, or mountain red juniper arc found. Scattered among this vegetation :ire many kinds of herbs and gra,scs. Narrow tributary canyons such as Lake Fork and Cebolla Creek are steep walled and rocky sided with small islands of vegetation along the river banks where the canyon bottoms are wide enough to allow such growth.
This ~c,tion of the Gunnbon River flows through an area composed
basically of Prernmbrian granitic rocks overlain by Tertiary volcanic rocks which in some places have deposits of l\Iorrison formation and Dakota sand-stone lying between them. Generally speaking, in the western portion of the reservoir the Precambrian rock forms the bottom of the valley, the Morrison formation and Dakota ,andstonc comprise slopes and cliffs above the valleys and canyons, and breccias and tuffs make up the upper cliffs. To the east the Tertiary volcanics tend to rest directly upon the Precambrian rocks and
there are greater exposures of granite along the side\ of the valley. The
Morrison formation include, quarl!itc deposits which frequently arc exposed
in outuops on lerratcs above the erosion surface cut on the Precambrian
rocks. Neither rock shelters nor O\'erhanging clilfs, which would ha\'e afforded protected camping places for Indian hunters or travelers, occur in the reservoir area.
THE ,\RCHAEOLOCICAL SURVEY
In diswssing the archaeological resources of the area with local infor-mants prior to our survey we were repeatedly told that few if any sites were known or would be localed in the reservoir arl'a. This we found to be true. The area is one which is known to have been utiliLed by the Utes in historic limes. Howc\'er, use by them was limited to lcmporary hunting camps and a route of communication between the Uncompahgre ri\'er ,·alley and plateau
on the west and the San Luis valley country to the southeast. Sc\'cral so-called
"Ute trails" are identified in lhe vicinity of the reservoir. Such use of the area
which did occur probably was limited to the summer months, since the winters arc cold and deep snow covers the nearby mountains and mounlain passes
and atcumulatcs to considerable cleplhs in the Gunnison River valle)'· It
would have been an ideal summer hunting territory, however, became of the
great abundance of deer.
Old timer:, who remember when Utes hunted or travelled through the
region, or younger informants who quoted their parents or grandparents, stated that after white settlement began in the Gunnison valley 1 ndians never camped along the rh·cr. They always remained on the higher elc\'ations
surrounding the valley\ and canyons. ,vhcthcr this was true in earlier times
would be diflirnlt to determine, since all bottom lands and many of the terrace, abo,c the river have been under cullivation for several generations
-12-and all c, iclcnte of Indian sites, had they exi5ted, has been obliterated. The
presence of former Indian camps on ridges and terraces at elevations well above lhc rescr;oir is borne out by the facl that local arrowhead hunters find
,lone chips and an occa,ional artifact on many such locations.
We were successful in locating len sites in our sur,ey. None wairant
additional attention. All sites are situated in the open, upon terraces above
river valleys. Eighl arc in the pool area; two arc just abo,·e the re;crvoir limils. Nine of the silcs arc either camJHites 01 workshop area,; the tenlh is a loc:ition where a few pclrogl)phs onur. '"-'orkshops arc distinguished
arbitraril) from campsites by the fact that they occur near outcrops of
quart1ite and it is e\'ident thal artifacts were prepared at such locations. None
of the sites suggest any length of occupation. Cultural material upon them
i, limited to a scattering of lithic implements and flake, upon the surface.
There arc no architccwral features and rare!) docs one find a conccntralion of dark, ashy ;oil suggesti\'e of a firepit. No deeply buried sites were en-countered.
In addition to ,pecin,c·n, from rernrdcd ~itrs, ;uncyon. occasionally picked up random artifacls throughout the re,cl\oir a1ca, especial!) on sage-brush-co\'cred terrace:, and hillsides. They could not be as,ociatccl with silcs.
It also is likely that many of the ouurops of quart1itc, which ,ommonly occ1ir on the lerraces above the Gunnison Ri,cr, were utili1cd by Indians as sourc.cs of material for artifa,t, ,incc flakes and small fragments o( stone litter
the ground around them. However, we did nol identify such areas a, sites
unless we obtained recogninblc artifacts from them.
Sc\'eral factors undoubtedly have contribuled to lhc difficulty of locating sites in the area loday. One is the dcmity o[ ,ettlcment and culti\'ation of the Gunni,on Ri\'er valley which likely obliterated some sites. furthermore,
many local residents and fishenucn who frequent the area are arrowhead collectors. Over the years lhey ha,e glca ned the most ob, ious ani facts from sites near the streams.
At CN 7, the one site where pctrogl) pbs occur, numerous large rocks have broken away from the rimro(k bordcrin~ a tenale and ha,e come to rest
upon the talus slope or at its base. Simple ,ir(lllar and geomelric designs are deeply pecked upon the sides and top'> of SC\'C1al of these large rock.,. Two
cam1nitcs were noted on the tcrrate above the petroglyphs.
.\rtifacts collected from sites, or found at random while conducting the survey, are generally non-diagnostic. Neither their antiquity nor their cul-tural affiliation can be determined with an) ccrtaint). Since it is well known that the region wa, Ute terriwry in hi,toric times. it seems probable that our collections represent Ute remains. llowevcr, we found no items su,h a., u-adc beads, metal artifacts, or pottery, whilh would identif) sites as historic or late Ute. ll is not possible to identify Ute lilhic artifacts at this time, but we arc
hoping to do so upon completion of a ,urrcnt archaeological project near
J\lontrose, Colorado. Jt may be significant to note thal we arc finding the same t) pcs of artifacts in the vicinity of ~fontrose, where we arc searching
for Ulc materials, as were found in the Gunnison area.
109 artiracts were collected from the archacologi,al sites, and an addilional 29 specimem were found unas,odated with rewgni,ablc ,itcs. ·1 he collection, inducting both whole and fragmenta'l' ,pccimens, contains 68 triangular knives, 17 thick ovoid knive., or scraper-, and 36 retouched flakes. The small assortment of projectile points, mmt of which a,e broken, consi.,ts of two triangular unnotched points, four ti iangula1 bodied ,u·mmecl ,houlclcrecl
13
-·::··
·
··-'°"v·:7 ;---, • -.,::.r
I
~'--'·
•
I "' . t ' '""" .... .-le
-
··
j
-~
:
~
--
;~
l
•••·•• ( !. • ; • • -· • • . ---~ • .·-··-·
T·
r
r \
1
I ., f
;
I
~l
.
-,
.... , • \ • \ •. h...
,• ,....
1/ \ ,...
, /.
-
-
I
·---~
..._
...I
,
,
...
!
I
...
a., ... • ,•..
.,,.
.
·f·
I·
f
I
l...
·~
... ,c''t- ·-\ J
...
:
r
r
... ...,
/ ....-.
~
-
.r
:C' .
.
•
,,
.
. -1--
-+-'I·c..:c·
~ - -
.. '
...
.
.
..
-
·f
>l
•
·
···
.
-11-,,
;!
points, one triangular bodied stemmed round shouldered point, two tri-angular bodied stemmed indented base form points, and two triangular bodied side notched broad based points. Fi"e tips of projectile points of un-determined type also were recovered. One ,mall ovoid one-hand mano was found; this has one grinding surface.
OBSERVATIONS AND RECO:\DIENDATlONS
The scarcity of archaeological sites and their nature in the Blue :\Icsa
Reservoir are directly related to the cn\'ironmental conditions o( the area.
The high altitude is responsible for , cry cold, snow), and prolonged winters
and the geological formations arc not of a t}pe to have produced natural
shelters. These factors in all likelihood ruled out occupation of the territory during winter seasons. On the other hand, the large deer population and a natural east west passage through the mountaim, led to summer use of the Gunnison \'alley and its bordering foothills by panics of hunters and travelers. Outcroppings of quart1itc suitable for the manufacture of various types of artifacts also probably attratted people to the region. Obviously these types
of utililation of the area did not re~ult in large settlemcms or length) oc-cupations. Temporary c.ampsites, which ha,c left scant arc.haeological
evi-dence, were the rule.
In all probability the Indians who used thh section of the Gunnison
Ri\'er c.ountry in late prehistoric and hi,toric. times were predominantly Utes.
·1 he length of me of the land by Utes and 01her Indian groups cannot be determined at this writing.
The few archaeological sites located are campsites or workshops beside
outcrops of chippable stone, with the exception of one locality where
petro-glyphs had been placed upon several large rock\ . • \II arc located on terraces
above valley bottoms. Only lithic remain;, characteri;,tic of nomadic hunters
and gatherers were collected. Stone knives and scrapers predominate, but a small number of projectile points of ,·ariou;, t) pes were recovered. Their cultural alTiliation and age arc unknown, although it h believed that ;omc will prove to be of Ute origin. Local residents and fi-.hermen undoubtedly have
collected many of the easily rccognin1ble artifacts from sites near streams
and along trails leading to the streams.
1t is recommended that this survey conclude the arc.hacological activities
in the Blue Mesa Reservoi1. No sites located warrant funhcr testing or
exca-vation .
PROGRESS REPORT: THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO NUBIAN EXPEDITION
By GORDON \V. I hwi,,s
EDITOR'S NOTE: Professor Gordo11 II'. Ilewes is Jneswtly leading a
team of arclweologi:.ts from the Unive,sity of Colorado (Eugene B . .\lcCluney, Mi11or van A.rsdale, and Duane Quiatt) in excavating a :.ile 011 the upper 'Nile
directly across tlte river from ll'adi Haifa. The purpme of tlte ex/>editio11 is
to determine the effect, of wlturnl succe:.si011 i11 thi, />art of Xubia from several centuries before to several centuries after Christ, a J>niod which saw
the region dominated successively by Egyptians, Kushites, Assyria11s, Persia11s,
Gree/1s, Romans, Christians, and ,Uuslims. A more detailed description of the
archaeological expeditio11 apj1eared i11 the la.it issue of Southwestern Lore
(September·, 1962).
