Walking with the Paleoamericans [AAW03]

The term Paleoamerican, although perhaps not as common as Paleoindian, seems a bit more accurate and inclusive. Using the term Indian for the Native Americans encountered by the genocidal "explorer" Christopher Columbus merely perpetuates his ignorance.

Paleoamerican is the term I use for the folks living in the Americas during the period 22,000+ years before present (years BP) and 8,000 years BP. In the northern plains of Colorado near me there are two Archealogical sites of interest: the Dent Site representing Clovis culture of approximately 13,000 years BP and the Lindenmeier Site representing Folsom culture of approximately 11,000 years BP. I spent a few days at a symposium about the Lindenmeier site in mid October and went on a walk through the Soapstone Prairie Natural Area within which the Lindenmeier site is located to try to understand.

First a few salient facts about the Lindenmeier Archaeological site gleaned from an informative pamphlet[1] distributed during the symposium. The site was discovered in the 1920s by local artifact hunters and was scientifically excavated in the 1930s. The characteristic trait of Folsom culture is the Folsom Point - a specific type of stone spear point beautifully crafted and found all over the Lindenmeier dig site. Their beauty is mesmerizing. The difficulty in their construction indicates skilled artisans making superb tools from stone 11,000 years ago just up the road from my house where I can't find a decent screwdriver in 2014.

Plains of Northern Colorado looking southeast near the Lindenmeier site.

The climate has changed since the end of the last glacial maximum. Seems silly to have to say that, but it has to be true. You would not have ice hundreds of feet thick in areas where it does not exist now if the climate allowing the ice to accumulate did not change to a warmer climate to melt the ice. The takeaway here is that it was much wetter then so water from springs and flowing creeks was available for the Folsom folk. They did not need employ windmills.

Windmill (wind driven groundwater pump) and stock tank, just south of the Lindenmeier site.

One of the more interesting recent human inhabitation stories includes a ranch house located in the anomalous grove of Ponderosa pine - anomalous in that Ponderosa typically do not grow out here on the plains. Seems a thriving moonshine business was conducted in the ranch house underneath the anomalous pines. Splendid.

Ponderosa pines in the sunshine where there used to be moonshine.

The trail winds around the western side of the Lindenmeier site and one starts to get an idea of the beautiful view these folks had while making stone tools and using them to kill, butcher and preserve Bison antiquus meat.

Lindenmeier site is located downslope from the white and pink cliffs in the middle of the photograph.

This site has been called, "the one and only beautiful American site," by archaeologist Francois Bordes. I'll agree that it certainly is beautiful - but I think he may have been referring to the archaeological significance of the site. That significance is probably hard to overstate. The site established the fact that humans just like us were inhabiting America 11,000 years ago. It also told us how they lived. It also let us make some inferences that on the whole make me happy. Those being that they had free time to pursue art and jewelry making; and they camped out in the open in unfortified areas. They did not feel the need to set up defenses. They traded with travelers from other areas or traveled there themselves to obtain exotic items. In basic ways they were just like we are.

And they had an eye for beauty - at least I think I would have appreciated their environment if I lived at that time.

Nice view looking west - wonder what it looked like 11,000 years ago.

Here's a view of the site itself. The arroyo in the middle ground of the picture is recent (estimated at 150 years old) and exposes a dark horizontal layer just barely visible in the image. That dark layer was the habitation level - ground surface 11,000 years ago.

Where they lived is 8-12 feet below the current ground surface. Covered in windblown and waterborne sediment then exposed by erosion and now a part of our knowledge of what it is to be human on earth.

It really is a beautiful place to be, to think about and to incorporate into who we are.

[1] Martin, B., Bowell, K., Bower, T.T., Burton, T., 2009, The Excavation of Lindenmeier: A folsom Site Uncovered; Fort Collins Museum & Discovery Science Center.