The first Coloradoans Overview   Prehistoric Indians  Paleo Indians  Clovis Period  Folsom Period  Plano Period  Farmers Prehistoric Indians   Indians that lived on the land before written history existed  Historians say these are the Indians that crossed the Bering strait and migrated to the North and South American Continents  Archaeologists have discovered tools and artifacts from this era.

Paleo Indians   Lived in small family units  Continuously searching for food  Always on the move  They camped near rivers and streams to be close to water  The plants and animals that needed water became the main food groups for these people  They would sometimes follow large animals into the mountains use the meat and hide Clovis   Most likely the first group of Paleo Indians to live in  Around 15,000 years ago  Most common artifacts found for this group of Indians are animal bones and spear points  These are some of the oldest artifacts ever found in CO Folsom/Plano Period   Folsom  The next group of Paleo Indians to live in CO  Similar to the group before they were hunter/gathers and used spear points as their main weapons  Are thought to have lived about 10,000 years ago  Plano  Last group of Paleo Indians  The climate change created grasslands where forests use to stand  They did not move as much, instead they moved with the seasons not the animals  Still hunted animals but were finding better and more effect ways to hunt

River of Bones   Plano people learned to kill large number of animals at a time  Plano Indians would scare groups of Bison  Using spears and dogs  Push the group to a cliff  The bison would fall to their deaths  There are several different sites in CO where these “bison jumps” have been found  James-Miller Bison Kill site Northeast CO Pueblo Famers   Who are they?  They lived in CO at the end of the Archaic period  The ancestral the Anasazi  word for “ancient enemy” or “outsider” Puebloans did not like this name  Creating a Community  The First Puebloans lived on the flat-topped along the Mancos River  This area today is called Verde  Mesa Verde means “green tableland” in Spanish  Ancestral Puebloans were farmers  Squash beans and corn Creating a community   How could they farm?  To water plants/crops during dry periods they dug ditches to move water from the nearby streams  They also built dams to create large ponds to have water stored for later use.  Where did they live?  Ancestral Puebloans live in Pit houses  Each house had a large main room with a fire pit in the middle  Built close together to form a community  Built around a Plaza Creating a community   Where did they live?  Villages also had special rooms that were called  Kivas were close to the plaza were round and usually used for important ceremonies or special activities  In the middle of the was a small hole called a , it was thought to be the passage to from the underworld  The belief was this is how people first came to the world  Spirits of the dead could go back to the spirit world through this hole

Creating a community   Food and Tools  New tools = The bow and arrow  Improved hunting  Bone hooks= weighted fishing hooks  Improved fishing  Some even raised turkeys  Planting and Harvesting= less time than gathering  Began to make pottery From Pit Houses to Cliffs   Better home builders  Used mud and stone to create a new type of home  Built them tall so they could hold many families  2-3 stories high

The First Coloradans 