Jason M LaBelle | Colorado State University (original) (raw)

Edited Volumes by Jason M LaBelle

Southwestern Lore, Journal of the Colorado Archaeological Society Volume 81, Issues 2/3 Summer/Fa... more Southwestern Lore, Journal of the Colorado Archaeological Society
Volume 81, Issues 2/3
Summer/Fall 2015

Volume contains 14 papers regarding lithic caches discovered within the state of Colorado.

Compilation of 16 papers in honor of Dr. Jim Benedict, pioneer geoarchaeologist of the Southern R... more Compilation of 16 papers in honor of Dr. Jim Benedict, pioneer geoarchaeologist of the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Papers by Jason M LaBelle

Advances in Archaeological Practice

ABSTRACTOur professional understanding of the archaeological record is informed through academic ... more ABSTRACTOur professional understanding of the archaeological record is informed through academic research interest, the nature (tensions of time/money/location) of cultural resource management, and the ability of archaeologists to fully access diverse forms of data potentially available to them. Knowledge of eastern Colorado is poorly known, given that 40% of the state is publicly owned (federal and state) and most professional work occurs on land administered by federal agencies in western Colorado. Given this research disparity, we argue that professional archaeologists in eastern Colorado would certainly benefit from expanding their research networks to include the efforts of avocational archaeologists. Our article describes how artifact collectors have searched eastern Colorado for the past 100 years; although their methods differ from professional approaches, their cumulative efforts provide a nuanced read of the archaeological record. Differences relate to increased time spent...

$Research paper thumbnail of Review of \u3ci\u3eOn the Edge of Purgatory: An Archaeology of Place in Hispanic Colorado. \u3c/i\u3eBy Bonnie J. Clark$

Bonnie Clark\u27s book is a welcome addition to the small body of published literature regarding ... more Bonnie Clark\u27s book is a welcome addition to the small body of published literature regarding Great Plains historical archaeology. It concerns two habitation sites located on the Pinon Canyon Maneuver site, a modern military base in the canyon lands of the Purgatory River (which the Spanish named EI Rio de Las Animas Pedidas en Purgatorio) in southeastern Colorado. The river is the lifeblood of this region, with a deep record of occupation by both prehistoric and historic populations. Clark searches for Hispanic Colorado, which she identifies as both a people and a place. But unlike other historical archaeology studies, this one has few written records to rely upon for building a story of the peoples of the past. The goal of Clark\u27s work is to place these two sites into a broader social fabric of Hispanic place

$Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: \u3ci\u3eFrontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology: From the Dent Site to the Rocky Mountains\u3c/i\u3e Edited by Robert H. Brunswig and Bonnie L. Pitblado$

For a little over 75 years, Colorado has played host to important discoveries regarding the peopl... more For a little over 75 years, Colorado has played host to important discoveries regarding the peopling of the New World during the latest Pleistocene, with the earliest human occupations dating to at least l3,000 years before the present. Frontiers in Colorado Paleoindian Archaeology is a welcome addition to the already large body of research concerning this popular subject. The edited volume contains an introduction, ten chapters broken into three sections, an afterword, and a thorough index. Part 1 provides the context for the volume, including an environmental reconstruction of the Front Range (J.P. Doerner) and an overview of the history of Colorado Paleo indian research (Pitblado and Brunswig). Part 2 contains four important papers regarding the Dent mammoth site, the first well-documented association between humans (Clovis complex) and mammoths in all of North America (Brunswig; D.C. Fisher and D.L. Fox; J.J. Saunders; L.S. Cummings and R.M. Albert). Part 3 offers four assorted ...

American Antiquity, 2022

An enduring problem in North American archaeology concerns the nature of the transition between t... more An enduring problem in North American archaeology concerns the nature of the transition between the Clovis and Folsom Paleoindian complexes in the West. Traditional models indicate a temporal hiatus between the two complexes implying that Folsom was a population replacement for Clovis. Alternatively, if Folsom was an innovation that occurred within Clovis populations and subsequently spread, we would expect to see a temporal overlap. Here, we test these hypotheses using high-quality radiocarbon dates and Bayesian statistics to infer the temporal boundaries of the complexes. We show that the Folsom complex initially appears between 12,900 and 12,740 cal BP, whereas Clovis disappears between 12,720 and12,490 cal BP. Therefore, Folsom may have appeared about 200 years before Clovis disappeared, and so the two complexes likely co-occurred in the West for nearly eight generations. This finding suggests that Folsom was a successful adaptive innovation that diffused through the western Clo...

Hunter-Gatherer Behavior, 2016

Journal of Glacial Archaeology, 2021

Rocky Mountain National Park contains a dense record of prehistoric Native American archaeologica... more 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 o...

Great Plains Research, 2021

Ancient Folsom hunter-gatherers of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are often interpreted as ... more Ancient Folsom hunter-gatherers of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are often interpreted as bison hunters, constantly in pursuit of game. As such, there is little expectation for the repetitive use of specific places due to the mobile nature of bison. However, large sites such as Lindenmeier (5LR13) in northern Colorado suggest alternative land use scenarios. The extensive size of the site, the presence of nine to twelve clusters of Folsom artifacts, and the recovery of rare objects such as bone needles and beads, suggest the site was repeatedly occupied for reasons beyond bison hunting alone. Past interpretations vary on site use, ranging from a single aggregated occupation to instead many occupations spread over the centuries of Folsom presence within the region. Fieldwork at the Eastern Locality clarifies aspects of this spectrum for this area of Lindenmeier, where our work suggests a contemporaneous bison kill and associated camp. This occupation, spatially distinct from other occupations at the site, indicates Lindenmeier is a product of multiple bison kills and associated camps of other broader functions.

Plains Anthropologist, 2021

Pre-contact Native American sites in northeastern Colorado typically yield only a few sherds per ... more Pre-contact Native American sites in northeastern Colorado typically yield only a few sherds per site (if present), thus little information is known regarding ceramic manufacture by highly mobile groups in this area. Over the past fifty years, systematic archaeological research in Larimer County has generated a large sample of pottery for detailed study. Petrographic analysis of forty samples from ten sites on the low hills of the Front Range indicates a preference for non-local granitic raw materials. Group mobility clearly played a role in where pottery was made (western foothills) as opposed to where it is used (Colorado Piedmont). There are slight differences in paste and temper from the Early Ceramic (AD 150–1150) to the Late Ceramic periods (AD 1540–1860) that could reflect varying approaches to ceramic production as related to preferred source materials. The results suggest the pottery was made on a limited scale and likely for cooking.

PaleoAmerica, 2021

ABSTRACT The Johnson site is a Folsom occupation in Larimer County, Colorado. T. Russell Johnson ... more ABSTRACT The Johnson site is a Folsom occupation in Larimer County, Colorado. T. Russell Johnson discovered the site in 1935, which led to excavations by the Colorado Museum of Natural History in 1936 and later work in 1960 by the University of Wyoming. Little is known of the site due to limited reporting of the excavation and the Folsom assemblage. Our examination of the site collections gathered between 1935 and 1936 reveals an assemblage of 96 items, consisting of Folsom points, preforms, and channel flakes, as well as other tools including end scrapers, gravers, bifaces, and flake tools. Technological analysis of the Folsom points and byproducts of hunting-tool production suggests that site occupants fluted and finished points made from preforms of non-local materials, while additional tools and a few points were made from materials locally available in the Front Range foothills. As such, Johnson represents at minimum a hunting-weaponry-replacement locale.

PaleoAmerica, 2021

ABSTRACT Folsom is an early Paleoindian archaeological tradition found in the North American West... more ABSTRACT Folsom is an early Paleoindian archaeological tradition found in the North American West. Here we report new AMS radiocarbon dates for the Barger Gulch and Lindenmeier sites in Colorado along with unsuccessful dating attempts for Blackwater Draw, the Mitchell Locality, Shifting Sands, and Lipscomb on the Southern Plains. We applied Bayesian modeling using IntCal20 to our updated set of Folsom dates and estimate that the Folsom tradition lasted for a period spanning between 355–510 years at the 68 per cent credible interval or 325–650 years at the 95 per cent credible interval, starting sometime between 12,845–12,770 calendar years ago (cal yr BP) and ending sometime between 12,400–12,255 cal yr BP. Additionally, we model the spans of the start and end boundaries and find that both the adoption and abandonment of Folsom technology occurred over relatively short periods, less than 100 years and likely less than 50 years.

North American Archaeologist, 2020

Comparison of Late Paleoindian sites of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains reveals 36 site comp... more Comparison of Late Paleoindian sites of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains reveals 36 site components from 28 sites containing ground stone tools, including nine Cody Complex examples. Much of the ground stone use appears related to generalized activity, as few items have functionally specific forms. However, the Cody components have an unexpectedly higher number of grooved abraders as compared to other complexes. We note that Paleoindian examples contain wider u-shaped grooves compared to Late Prehistoric/Protohistoric abraders related to arrow production. We argue that Paleoindian abraders represent shaft abraders, used in the production of dart shafts within weaponry systems. We propose several hypotheses for the emergence of this technology during Cody times. The most parsimonious explanation is that the specific sites containing these abraders represent large camps, occupied for long periods and containing diverse chipped and ground stone assemblages.

Plains Anthropologist, 1996

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American Antiquity, 2017

Except for the addition of modern material remains, the archaeological record is a finite resourc... more Except for the addition of modern material remains, the archaeological record is a finite resource, which means that, at some point in the future, there will be nothing left to find. In this paper, we model trends in archaeological discovery based on the growth of the field and the probability of site discovery. We compare this model to seven diverse datasets of archaeological discovery trends: (1) all sites from the state of Wyoming, USA; (2) high-altitude archaeological sites from the state of Colorado, USA; (3) mostly complete Neandertal crania; (4) monumental sites of the Maya Classic period; (5) proboscidean kill/scavenge sites globally; (6) Upper Paleolithic sites from Europe; and (7) a compilation of shipwreck discoveries. We forecast discovery trends over the current century. We show that, for all datasets, rates of discovery are in decline, and some segments of the record are near depletion.

American Antiquity, 2008

Most models of Folsom adaptation consider specialized bison hunting and high rates of residential... more Most models of Folsom adaptation consider specialized bison hunting and high rates of residential mobility to be defining characteristics. We use spatial and assemblage content data from a sample of 619 Folsom sites located throughout the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and Southwest to evaluate whether the archaeological record actually reflects these characteristics. Three spatial scales of analysis are utilized. First, site scale analysis of a subset of sites shows a great deal of variability in spatial and temporal characteristics. Sites can be roughly divided into small, single occupation locales and large, serially occupied sites. Second, day-to-day foraging occurs at what we term the foraging scale. This intermediate spatial scale is poorly understood for Folsom groups, though large sites such as Blackwater Draw and Lindenmeier provide clues that are supplemented by information from the ethnographic record. Third, the macro-regional scale analysis utilizes the entire site samp...

Quaternary International, 2013

Volume contains 14 papers regarding lithic caches discovered within the state of Colorado.

Advances in Archaeological Practice

$Research paper thumbnail of Review of \u3ci\u3eOn the Edge of Purgatory: An Archaeology of Place in Hispanic Colorado. \u3c/i\u3eBy Bonnie J. Clark$

American Antiquity, 2022

Hunter-Gatherer Behavior, 2016

Journal of Glacial Archaeology, 2021

Great Plains Research, 2021

Plains Anthropologist, 2021

PaleoAmerica, 2021

North American Archaeologist, 2020

Plains Anthropologist, 1996

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American Antiquity, 2017

American Antiquity, 2008

Quaternary International, 2013

Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of …, 2005

Degree: Ph.D. DegreeYear: 2005 Institute: Southern Methodist University<br&g... more Degree: Ph.D. DegreeYear: 2005 Institute: Southern Methodist University Adviser: David J. Meltzer. This dissertation explores the diversity of Paleoindian adaptations that took place on.

American Antiquity, 2007

In Byerly et al. (2005) we explored the hypothesis that the Paleoindian component at Bonfire Shel... more In Byerly et al. (2005) we explored the hypothesis that the Paleoindian component at Bonfire Shelter was the result of a jump kill. Our efforts involved extensive mapping and GIS analysis, a re-examination of the Paleoindian-age bison assemblage, and consideration of the geomorphic history of the canyon in which the site is located. We concluded that the preponderance of evidence indicated the Paleoindian-age bison remains at Bonfire Shelter marked a processing site as Binford (1978) suggested, rather than a primary kill locality as originally interpreted (Dibble 1968). Bement (this issue) raises several concerns about our analysis and discussion, including that we omit pertinent information relevant to the interpretation of the site. His comments, however, result from a misreading of our discussion and a misconstrual of the data set, as we explain in this response.

Papers in honor of James Benedict, edited by Ken Cannon, Judson Finley, and Molly Boeka Cannon P... more Papers in honor of James Benedict, edited by Ken Cannon, Judson Finley, and Molly Boeka Cannon

PLAINS ANTHROPOLOGIST
Journal of the Plains Anthropological Society
VOLUME 60 NUMBER 236 MEMOIR 43 NOVEMBER 2015

Plains Anthropologist, 2013

Great Plains Research, 2016

strategic places on the landscape, storing items for later retrieval. In that way, caches aff ord... more strategic places on the landscape, storing items for later retrieval. In that way, caches aff ord people an insurance strategy for venturing into areas with poor or unknown resources, such as the stone necessary to make tools. In this chapter, Kilby describes blades— a type of cutting tool— found within Great Plains Clovis caches. He argues that stone tool caching is common in lithicpoor regions such as the Plains, and that blade caches in particular are nearly exclusively found in the Southern Plains. Leland Bement and Brian Carter examine Clovis hunting in the Southern Plains, primarily viewed from their excavation of the Jake Bluff site in northwestern Oklahoma. Th e site represents a bison kill, where animals were trapped in the narrow confi nes of arroyo walls. Th eir excavations revealed a cowcalf herd of at least 22 bison, four Clovis points, and a variety of other stone tools that document the kill and subsequent butchery of the animals. Th e authors demonstrate variation in the Clovis diet, as Jake Bluff is a departure from the more common Clovis mammoth kill. Th omas Jennings explores Clovis settlement and mobility patterns within the Great Plains, specifi cally comparing them to subsequent Folsom bison hunters of the same region. He is interested in understanding if there are diff erences in how Clovis groups utilized the environment and geography of the Southern versus Northern Plains. Jennings examines variables such as site size, fauna hunted, the seasonal timing of the hunts, and types of stone tool technology. He concludes that Clovis peoples more intensively utilized the Southern Plains as compared to the Northern Plains, which Jennings attributes to diff erences in resource abundance. Clovis remains an elusive subject. Once thought to be a continentwide phenomenon, Clovis is now known to demonstrate considerable variation within smaller regions such as the Great Plains. Whether a people or an idea, this volume provides an important update to our understanding of the Clovis complex, which is continually changing with new archaeological discoveries, excavation, and analysis. Th e book certainly appeals to those readers interested in early Native American cultural history, archaeological method and theory, stone tool technology, and the earliest peoples of the North American continent.

American Antiquity

uated (Chapters 6 and 7); and bone fracture patterns, technology, and use-wear are identified (Ch... more uated (Chapters 6 and 7); and bone fracture patterns, technology, and use-wear are identified (Chapter 8) and compared with known natural and cultural patterns (Chapter 9). Chapter 10 reconstructs the butchering sequence; Chapter 11 presents a detailed description of the bone and stone artifacts recovered from the site; and Chapter 12 presents the results of use-wear analysis of the meager stone tool assemblage, composed of three Clovis projectile points and one chalcedony flake. Chapter 13, the sole chapter in Part IV, summarizes the multidisciplinary investigation of the Lange/Ferguson site and the conclusion that Clovis hunters employed expedientlymade bone implements to butcher two mammoths. Of particular note is the discovery that the upper legs and torso of the older individual were butchered utilizing sharp bone implements expediently produced during and following the butchery of the younger animal. The bone tool assemblage from the Lange/Ferguson site is the definitive case that Clovis hunters had a bone technology based on the sequential reduction of mammoth cortical bone into cutting, scraping, and piercing tools. The analysis of more than 100 spirally fractured bone pieces yielded dozens that displayed the exacting criteria applied in the identification of bone tools. The detailed analysis of the bone technology and application of strict criteria in identifying bone tools led to the conclusion that the helically fractured bone pieces were created during the purposeful reduction of mammoth skeletal elements by Clovis hunters/ butchers and not the result of heavy machinery used to remove overburden during excavation. Often the publication of a site excavated and analyzed decades ago suffers from presenting out-of-date ideas and results that are no longer cutting-edge contributions. Such is not the case with this new book about “old” excavation finds at the Lange/Ferguson site. If anything, the re-presentation of the expedient bone tool assemblage and the technology it represents is timely, in light of new discoveries feeding discussions about hunting and scavenging megafauna in the New World. This book is a must-read for all avid mammoth hunters and Paleoindian specialists.

Geoarchaeology-an International Journal, 2000

The prehistoric record of the Colorado alpine ecosystem is well known in regards to Altithermal r... more The prehistoric record of the Colorado alpine ecosystem is well known in regards to Altithermal refugia and communal hunting, among other topics. Much of this knowledge is due to the efforts of the late Jim Benedict, with his work based in the Indian Peaks and Rocky Mountain National Park, the mountainous regions west of Boulder. However, the Southern Rocky Mountains contain other ranges, ecologically distinct from that of the Colorado Front Range. As part of an ongoing baseline investigation, this project summarizes over 2,200 prehistoric and 5,000 historic archaeological sites located above 3000 m in Colorado. Classifying the Colorado mountains into 26 zones, we statistically analyze the abundance and types of sites to identify land use patterns related to prehistoric subsistence and mobility, in addition to gaps in the present data. Rather than demonstrating a normative “mountain adaptation”, ancient peoples exhibited diversity in their use of Colorado ranges.

Corresponding and senior author: Jason M. LaBelle (jason.labelle@colostate.edu)

Paper presented at the 2014 SAA Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas.

The Mount Albion complex was defined by Jim Benedict, primarily based upon three Early Archaic ga... more The Mount Albion complex was defined by Jim Benedict, primarily based upon three Early Archaic game drives and campsites located along the Continental Divide in the Colorado Front Range. While the distinctive Mount Albion style projectile point has been recovered from mixed assemblages from sites along the Front Range, single component Mount Albion complex sites remain elusive yet important windows into this relatively poorly understood complex. The Spotted Pony site (5BL82), located northwest of Boulder in a meadow along the Middle St. Vrain River at an altitude of 2,980 m, is one such site. Originally recorded by Jim Benedict in 1969, and excavated by Byron Olson and members from the CAS-Indian Peaks chapter in the summers of 1999-2002, Spotted Pony appears to be a single component Mount Albion complex campsite. Calibrated (2σ) radiocarbon dates suggest the site was occupied around 4085-4330 cal. B.C., and the flaked stone assemblage is similar to other Mount Albion complex toolkits. This paper summarizes our ongoing analysis efforts of the flaked stone assemblage from Spotted Pony, in preparation of a final report on the site. We discuss the site in the context of what is currently known of Mount Albion archaeology.

The Lindenmeier site remains an enigma in many ways. Why is it so large? What was the draw of t... more The Lindenmeier site remains an enigma in many ways. Why is it so large? What was the draw of this special place? Many of the papers in the Ancient Lives, Ancient Dreams Symposium will attempt to tackle these questions with discussion of the site itself or through comparison to other Folsom sites. In this presentation, I take a different route by comparing the Lindenmeier site to other (non-Folsom) sites in the local area. Archaeologists from Colorado State University led large systematic surveys of Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, Red Mountain Open Space, and the Belvoir Ranch in 2006 and 2007, followed by systematic testing in between 2009-2011. Nearly 300 archaeological sites are now recorded on these conservation lands along the Colorado/Wyoming state line. Based on this work, Lindenmeier can be placed in a broader consideration of “uniqueness”. I will argue that Lindenmeier is distinct from other local sites in three important ways: the site’s vista, its overall size and complexity, and the overall reliance on non-local raw materials in the production of stone tools. I discuss what these factors may have meant to not only Folsom peoples, but to the many other Native American groups that inhabited the Front Range for the past 12,000 years.

The Spring Canyon site (5LR205) is a multi-component prehistoric campsite located in a foothills ... more The Spring Canyon site (5LR205) is a multi-component prehistoric campsite located in a foothills valley within the city limits of Fort Collins, Colorado. The site has been surface collected by archaeologists since the late 1930s and likely many more times by amateur collectors. Over 1600 chipped and ground stone artifacts from three collections were analyzed, the results of which suggest that the site was used from Folsom to Early Ceramic times (10,900-1,000 rcybp). At times, its use was in the form of extended residential occupation that produced large amounts of locally-procured debitage and ground stone implements employed in the processing of plant and animals resources, along with a diversity of other stone tools, obsidian, and ceramics. The results of these analyses are presented, as well as those gleaned from recent augering of the site, which suggests the likely presence of stratified archaeological deposits. The case is made that the Spring Canyon site, though heavily impacted by historic practices, remains a valuable asset for its archaeological merit and potential as a site used for public outreach.

Popular press article on current research at the Lindenmeier site. Article written by Martha Dee... more Popular press article on current research at the Lindenmeier site. Article written by Martha Deeringer