BLM LIBRARY States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Colorado ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE YARMONY PIT HOUSE SITE Eagle County, Colorado Michael D. Metcalf and Kevin D. Black CULTURAL RESOURCE SERIES NUMBER 31 r^tfv^ £>'& zyimitfi 12 .CjL /f ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT C. 2- THE YARMONY PIT HOUSE SITE EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO By Michael D. Metcalf and Kevin D. Black Colorado State Office ^/^O, ^ Bureau of Land Management ^^Oj/^ H Denver, Colorado *C ^ 1991 ^O" ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS AT THE YARMONY PIT HOUSE SITE, EAGLE COUNTY, COLORADO by Michael D. Metcalf and Kevin D. Black with contributions by Ronald J. Rood Richard F. Madole Susan K. Short Margaret A. Van Ness Anne McKibbin Minette C. Church Bret Overturf prepared by Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc, Eagle , Colorado prepared for Eagle County Road and Bridge Department and Bureau of Land Management Craig District Kremmling Resource Area . COPIES OF THIS DOCUMENT ARE AVAILABLE FROM: Colorado State Office Bureau of Land Management 2850 Youngfield Street Lakewood, Colorado 80215-7076 or Craig District Office Bureau of Land Management 455 Emerson Street Craig, Colorado 81625 THIS DOCUMENT IS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN AND MAY BE QUOTED. IF PORTIONS OF THIW WORK ARE USED, PLEASE CREDIT EITHER THE AUTHOR (S) AND /OR THE BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Cover Photograph: Colorado River and the Gore Range Series Production: Frederic J. Athearn li FOREWORD One of the most important tools in archaeology for interpreting the past is a scientifically controlled method of excavation that is used to reveal important sites. The Yarmony Pit House excavation demonstrates how an archaeological site that seemingly might not be spectacular on the surface can yield extremely significant data. This project, undertaken by the Bureau of Land Management and Eagle County, Colorado, represents a major study of a unique archaeological site. Pit house complexes are not particularly common in north central Colorado, so when one is discovered and analyzed, the data gathered is very important. This report represents the culmination of several years of work at the Yarmony Pit House site. It provides valuable data and interpretation for a place that was occupied by humans some 7,000 years ago. I am pleased to present this significant study to both the professional community and to the general reader as book number 31 in the Bureau's ongoing Cultural Resources Series. These volumes remain popular and continue to contribute to the professional body of literature in history and archaeology. The Bureau of Land Management is pleased to be able to publish information that is both useful and scientifically sound. GoOw oo>*-— H. Robert Moore State Director Colorado IV Acknowledgements A great many people deserve credit for their work and support of the project. Work at Yarmony occurred over the field seasons of 1987 and 1988. The initial phase of work was funded by the Eagle County Road and Bridge Department as part of their upgrading of the Trough Road between State Bridge and Kremmling. Bill Heiden, then the superintendent of the department, and Eagle County Commissioners Bud Gates, Dick Gustafson, and Don Welch are sincerely thanked for their understanding and cooperation following the discovery of this unique and significant site. In addition to providing significant funding, Eagle County altered the road design to preserve a large portion of the site. The commissioners have also encouraged display and public interpretation of artifacts and data from the site. Work in 1988 and publication of this report was funded by the Bureau of Land Management. This report satisfies, in part, requirements of Contract C0- 910-CT8-026. BLM archeologist Prill Mecham was enthusiastic in her support of the work at the site and without her very able help, the project would not have occurred. Prill pushed the project through its various review and permit stages, coordinated site tours for the students of the West Grand School District, and contributed many ideas to the excavations. Frank Rupp (Prill Mecham' s successor at the BLM) volunteered time to assist in the excavations, continued the strong BLM support of the project, and reviewed this manuscript. Kremmling Resource Area Manager Dave Atkins visited the site at various stages of work and was also strongly supportive of the work. Publication of this volume was made possible through the efforts of Ric Athearn of the Colorado State Office of the BLM and Hal Keesling of the Craig District Office of the BLM. Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc. provided a portion of the funding for the project by running additional radiocarbon dates and providing a large share of the salaries for laboratory and report writing personnel. Sally Metcalf is to be thanked for her patience for a project which her spouse pushed beyond the limits of mandated compliance simply out of personal interest. Students participating in Colorado Mountain College field classes contributed labor to the project in 1987 and 1988. Thanks to Mary Beaumont, Susan Betcher, Norma Broten, Christopher Flanagan, Debbie Garner, Kathy Heicher, Deborah Lind, Jack Niswanger, Sherri Seipel, Judith Touchette, Patricia Walton, and Larry Wood for their efforts. Larry Wood participated in several sessions of work outside of class, and provided photographs for a public display about the site. A number of specialists were consulted during the course of analysis. Sue Strothers of the U.S. Forest Service, Dr. W. L. Minckley of Arizona State University, and Dr. Danny Walker of the University of Wyoming all helped with faunal identifications. Dr. Shi-Kuei Wu of the University of Colorado identified . the snails. Dr. Craig Shuler of Colorado State University performed the wood identifications Local residents William and Bonnie Ellison put up with a crew of archaeologists almost in their front yard, watched over the site in our absence, and provided heavy equipment for backfilling. Their enthusiasm and support was cherished by all of the crew. Alan and Debra Echtler, also neighbors to the site, watched over the site and explained our activities to friends and acquaintances Several colleagues visited during investigations sharing ideas, labor and support. Dr. Elizabeth Ann Morris dug with us for several days and participated in many discussions about the site. Bob Nykamp, archeologist for the Routt National Forest brought students and Forest Service para-professionals to the site. Brian O'Neil and Sally Cole, along with other members of the Quahada Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society toured the site, as did many of the Roaring Fork Chapter members. Carl Conner and Steve Baker, western slope colleagues also visited the site. Parts of Chapter 10 of this report were presented as papers at the 1988 Society for American Archaeology and Plains Anthropological conferences. Ideas expressed in this chapter have benefited from comments received at those meetings from discussants Cynthia Irwin-Williams, George Frison, and Chuck Reher and organizers Julie Francis and Mary Lou Larson. Thanks are also due to Tom Green for providing an unpublished paper on pit structures on the Snake River Plain of Idaho. MAC personnel who participated in fieldwork include Doug Birkholz, Minette Church, Warren and Elke Church, Forrest Crosley, Steve Dominguez , Rand Greubel, Julie Medsker, Sally Metcalf, Jack Niswanger, Bret Overturf, Judy Rau, Debbie Roach, Ron Rood, John Scott, Ed Stine, and Lauri Travis. Excavations were supervised by Mike Metcalf, Kevin Black and Anne McKibbin. Steve Dominguez assisted in a supervisory role when needed, and conducted site tours for the West Grand schools. The authors were helped with laboratory work by Minette Church, Bret Overturf, Judy Rau, Debbie Roach, and Ron Rood. Anne McKibbin drafted all of the line drawings and maps in the report and was responsible for report production. Tracy Cameron did most of the typing and Sally Metcalf produced the photographs VI Table of Contents Chapter Page Forward iii Acknowledgements v Table of Contents vii List of Figures xi List of Tables xiii Management Summary xiv 1 INTRODUCTION 1 The Site 1 History of Excavations 1 About the Report 3 2 PREVIOUS WORK AND RESEARCH CONTEXT 5 Data Gaps 9 Research Design 10 Research Goals and Methods 11 Expected Results 11 Specific Data Recovery Tasks 13 3 ENVIRONMENT 15 Geology, Soils and Lithic Resources 18 Flora and Fauna 20 Local Land Use Patterns 22 4 FIELD METHODS 23 Introduction 23 Test Excavations 23 Data Recovery Excavation 24 Excavation Records 26 Artifact and Sample Recovery 26 5 QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND GE0M0RPH0L0GY 31 Introduction 31 Geomorphic Setting 31 Pre-Quaternary Stratigraphy 36 Quaternary Stratigraphy 38 Unit 1 38 vii Table of Contents, cont'd 5 QUATERNARY GEOLOGY AND GEOMORPHOLOGY , cont'd Quaternary Stratigraphy, cont'd Unit 2 40 Unit 3 40 Unit 4 40 Unit 5 42 Geologic History 42 Pre-Holocene History 43 Holocene History 45 Late Quaternary Paleoenvironments at the Yarmony Site .... 52 Acknowledgments 56 6 RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS 57 Introduction 57 Radiocarbon Dating 57 Cultural Stratigraphy 59 Road Cut Locus 6l The Pit House Locus 62 House 1 62 Floor Features 68 Faunal Associations 78 Activity Patterning 78 House 2 78 Feature 14 Locus 80 Ceramic Locus 83 Scattered Test Units 85 7 MATERIAL CULTURE 87 Introduction 87 Chipped Stone Tools 87 Material Types 88 Hafted Bifaces 89 Unhafted Bifaces 99 Flake Tools 105 Cores and Core Tools 117 Lithic Debitage 118 Flake Type Distribution 122 Material Type Distribution