Report Details

Uncompahgre Plateau Projectile Point Typology

(2021) Coal Creek Research, Inc.

The Uncompahgre Plateau has been utilized by humans for at least the last 10,000 years, based on dates from excavated sites in the region. Projectile point styles that have formally been defined and named from type sites throughout the Great Basin occur on the Plateau. However, many that have not been formally defined or named also occur on the Plateau. Previously, Buckles (1972) used points from his excavations to develop a general projectile point chronology, and Berry (2019) obtained radiocarbon dates and used eighty projectile points from recorded sites to refine the chronology and define eight projectile point styles for the area.

Our investigation currently utilizes over 1500 projectile points from excavated sites and private collectors to define styles that occur on the Uncompahgre Plateau. As expected, this has increased the number of definable styles to 45. The radiocarbon dates and the associated points (Berry, 2019) allow some of our newly defined styles to be associated with a temporal period, but only about half. In addition, a grid of USGS 1:24,000-scale topographic maps containing the Plateau are being used to identify any statistically significant differences in spatial occurrences of the styles.

Document(s):

  DECISION TREE for Uncompahgre Plateau Projectile Point Typology — (2021) Coal Creek Research, Inc.

  SAA POSTER for Uncompahgre Plateau Projectile Point Typology — (2021) Coal Creek Research, Inc.