Tangled Transmissions: The Differentiation of Historic Telegraph and Telephone Lines through Material Culture

Historic telegraph and telephone material culture are frequently encountered but seldom differentiated during archaeological site and survey work in Colorado. The poles, wires, and insulators that comprise these cultural resources are often recorded simply as transmission lines. The research reported here is the first archaeologically focused comparative study of telegraph and telephone material culture designed to help archaeologists differentiate between the two communication systems. Differentiating and documenting these systems fills gaps in an inadequate historical record of their spatial and temporal evolution and contributes to site and survey area interpretations. We find substantial material culture similarities due to shared hardware and the temporal overlap of the introduction of these systems to Colorado. We also identify several material attributes to help differentiate the systems. Accurately identifying cultural resources is a mainstay of archaeological work and we make progress by understanding the possibilities and challenges of differentiating these poorly documented resources.

Archaic-Age Architecture in Northwest Colorado

Archaic-era hunter-gatherers in the Wyoming Basin—which extends across southwest Wyoming and northwest Colorado—built domed or conical architectural features, with some exhibiting far more substantial construction than others. These structures are often archaeologically preserved as large elliptical basins, defined by charcoal-stained sediment that filled habitation footprints after abandonment. Many of these basins, or house pits, are probably residential remains, although some may have had other uses. The recent discovery of 32 house pits in Colorado’s Yampa Valley in the Sand Wash Basin has expanded the regional dataset, increasing our understanding of Archaic-era lifeways in northwestern Colorado. These discoveries further demonstrate the highly variable nature of Archaic-era structures, reflecting the adaptability of a mobile lifestyle to a specific place and time. Archaic-era use of these features in northwest Colorado occurred between about 8100 and 3755 cal B.P., demonstrating the usefulness of such shelters across a wide range of climate regimes. The greatest numbers were built between 6800 and 6000 cal B.P., coinciding with the mid-Holocene thermal maximum, when the residential settlement pattern grew more restricted, centering on water, food, and shelter resources. As the warm, arid climate ameliorated after 5500 cal B.P., use of such shelters began to decrease, demonstrating a return to higher residential mobility with greater availability of resources in the cooler, wetter climate. A comparison of Yampa Valley house pits with northern Wyoming Basin house pits indicates that Archaic-era people utilized similar structures as part of a highly adaptable mobile lifestyle for thousands of years across the Wyoming Basin.

Archaic-Age Architecture in Northwest Colorado

Archaic-era hunter-gatherers in the Wyoming Basin—which extends across southwest Wyoming and northwest Colorado—built domed or conical architectural features, with some exhibiting far more substantial construction than others. These structures are often archaeologically preserved as large elliptical basins, defined by charcoal-stained sediment that filled habitation footprints after abandonment. Many of these basins, or house pits, are probably residential remains, although some may have had other uses. The recent discovery of 32 house pits in Colorado’s Yampa Valley in the Sand Wash Basin has expanded the regional dataset, increasing our understanding of Archaic-era lifeways in northwestern Colorado. These discoveries further demonstrate the highly variable nature of Archaic-era structures, reflecting the adaptability of a mobile lifestyle to a specific place and time. Archaic-era use of these features in northwest Colorado occurred between about 8100 and 3755 cal B.P., demonstrating the usefulness of such shelters across a wide range of climate regimes. The greatest numbers were built between 6800 and 6000 cal B.P., coinciding with the mid-Holocene thermal maximum, when the residential settlement pattern grew more restricted, centering on water, food, and shelter resources. As the warm, arid climate ameliorated after 5500 cal B.P., use of such shelters began to decrease, demonstrating a return to higher residential mobility with greater availability of resources in the cooler, wetter climate. A comparison of Yampa Valley house pits with northern Wyoming Basin house pits indicates that Archaic-era people utilized similar structures as part of a highly adaptable mobile lifestyle for thousands of years across the Wyoming Basin.

Balancing the Scales: Harmonizing Heritage Management, Site-Specific Research, and the Mitigation of Adverse Effects

The Southern Colorado River Basin context published in 1999 offered a remarkable overview of Mesa Verde regional archaeology. It reviewed the available research for each main period of occupation and, at the end of each summary, outlined some of the most important questions for future research. For the late Basketmaker and early Pueblo periods many of those research questions have been addressed or are now outdated. Current questions are not just about research, but also about how to balance long-term heritage management goals with site-specific research. The accelerating loss of cultural landscape to irrigated fields, energy development, and the expansion of country homes requires us to both broaden the scope of our preservation planning and the scale of our research questions to the landscape level. In this review I propose changes to the extent and nature of the Southern Colorado River Basin context area, as well as offer amendments to the previous period chronologies based on what we have learned. Lastly, I suggest an array of research themes for future work. Although this is not a state-approved context, it is offered as a challenge to us—whether we represent the state, a federal agency, a university, or a CRM firm—to think big about the research we do in the greater Mesa Verde region.

Metal Detection, An Essential Remote Sensing Approach for Historical Archaeologists

Over the last thirty years, metal detection has become an essential tool in historical archaeology, yet the majority of archaeologists still know relatively little about metal detectors. In this review we trace the increasing use of metal detectors in archaeological survey and research following several notable successes in archaeological surveys that proved their worth. To understand the differences between the two basic types of metal detectors used by archaeologists we briefly explain how they function and what their relative strengths and weaknesses are for archaeological research. Metal detectors are most commonly used in archaeological survey and after offering examples of how they have proved useful in recent Colorado research we lay out a methodology for a successful metal detection survey. In many ways the survey techniques, sampling designs, and intensive data recovery principles for metal detection work are akin to those principles and techniques used in standard archaeological research. These principles simply have been adapted to take advantage of the capabilities offered by this remote sensing device for discovering unseen historic sites and for better understanding how the patterning in metal artifacts at battle sites, historic trails, and Indian encampments sometimes can offer a totally new view of history.

How Agriculture Took Hold in the Mesa Verde Region: A Review of Recent Research on the Late Basketmaker-Early Pueblo Periods (A.D. 500-920)

Major research projects and significant publications over the last two decades have fundamentally reframed our understanding of the Basketmaker III and Pueblo I periods in the Mesa Verde region. Whereas the last state historic context summaries for these periods, which were published in 1999, focused on the specifics of chronology building, site type definitions, settlement patterning, and other nuts and bolts issues, recent advances in database software and an increasing emphasis on regional research have turned our attention to the larger issues of how agriculture took hold and thereafter transformed the landscape north of the San Juan River. The relatively low populations and small-scale horticultural economies of the Basketmaker II period virtually disappeared between A.D. 500 and 600, to be replaced by a more intensive maize-dependent agricultural economy centered on large communities. The rapid expansion of early Pueblo agricultural settlements across the Mesa Verde region and the subsequent formation of large villages were in part fueled by the accelerating population growth that came with agricultural dependence. In turn, the late ninth-century breakup of these large villages contributed to population migration to the south of the San Juan River and the tenth-century emergence of what ultimately became the Chaco great house system. This review updates the 1999 Basketmaker III and Pueblo I overviews.

Introducing Reviews in Colorado Archaeology, a New Online Journal for Archaeological Research and Cultural Resources Management

Decisions about which sites to preserve and study are among the most critical that archaeologists make. Sound preservation decisions depend on well-supported assessments of archaeological site importance, which in turn depend on agreed frames of reference or contexts. For archaeologists working in Colorado and adjacent regions, one of the most important frames of reference is a series of context documents published by the Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists. As is true of any synthesis of archaeological data, those contexts are now in need of renewal, and in some cases revision. To provide one venue for context updates, Paleocultural Research Group has inaugurated an online, refereed journal called Reviews in Colorado Archaeology (RCA) that publishes authoritative and critical reviews, original research, National Register contexts, and methodological primers. RCA also publishes separately numbered, book-length contributions and distributes monographs or edited volumes produced by universities, federal or state agencies, or other organizations. RCA is one component of a new website designed to support research, cultural resources management, and public education in Colorado archaeology. Called “Online Resources for Colorado Archaeology and Historic Preservation,” or ORCA, the site is an open-access platform that integrates a reference library, a compendium of hyperlinks to online resources, a forum for community discussion and professional collaboration, and resources for educators, students, and avocationals.

Recent Developments in Gateway Phase Research

The Gateway tradition was defined by Alan D. Reed in 1997 to describe a class of prehistoric sites in west-central Colorado that had previously only been described in generic terms or as a local variant of well-known cultural traditions such as Ancestral Puebloan or Fremont. Reed and Michael D. Metcalf elaborated upon the new archaeological taxon in the prehistoric context for the Northern Colorado River basin, which was published in 1999. Several studies and research projects conducted since that time have resulted in new datasets that are relevant to many of the research questions and data gaps identified by Reed and Metcalf for the Gateway tradition. A consideration of these data has resulted in new insights into the lifeways of these people and a taxonomic reformulation of the Gateway tradition into the Gateway phase.

The Role of Horticulture in the Prehistoric Apishapa Region of Southeastern Colorado

At least 40 sites in the Apishapa region of southeastern Colorado and adjacent portions of New Mexico and Oklahoma have produced evidence of prehistoric maize. Firmly dated remains range in age from Late Archaic through Late Prehistoric, with the greatest occurrence between A.D. 550 and 1350. Maize was widespread throughout the region but the remains at individual sites are typically scant. The occurrence of maize increases in frequency over time, a trend that correlates more readily with population increase than climatic variation. The long-standing hunter-gatherer economy of southeastern Colorado persisted into Late Prehistoric times and was supplemented but not replaced by maize horticulture. Over time, pressure on resources resulted in a reduction in mobility and corresponding coalescence of populations into seasonally-occupied sites in canyon areas where resource diversity and availability were greatest. Prolonged drought after A.D. 1000 resulted in abandonment of southeastern Colorado ca. A.D. 1450. A mixed hunter-gatherer and horticultural economy characterized this period, although procurement of wild plant foods and hunting (mostly small mammals) remained prevalent. The failure of maize horticulture to assume a more prominent role in Apishapa subsistence practices may reflect the marginal nature of the semi-arid environment, where even today the growing of food crops is limited both by availability of water and, in some areas, elevation.