This page is viewed 954 times
Aspen Daily News More than two dozen prehistoric tools and weapons found on an undeveloped plot in Pitkin County could provide archaeologists information about hunter-gatherer toolmaking in the West. The find, on private property in the Emma area, on Bear Ridge Road, was reported last week to the Pitkin County commissioners. The owners of the site, David Brown and Jody Anthes, have building rights on the property. They asked the local government last week to place it, instead, on the county' s historical register and grant them two transferable development rights. An archaeological survey of the site, conducted in December and made public last week, concluded the artifacts are from the Archaic Period, which ran roughly from 6400 to 400 B.C. Archaeologists who surveyed the site for its owners recommended it as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Archaic hunter-gatherer peoples did not settle in villages or develop agricultural skills. They are believed to have followed small game around what is now Colorado, and gathered food plants according to the natural seasons. In archaeology terms, the Bear Ridge Road finding is a "lithic scatter," meaning tools or weapons made by humans are concentrated in the area. It indicates they stayed there making tools and weapons for some period of time. The report, by Melissa Elkins of Eagle-based Metcalf Archaeological Consultants, Inc., states that 27 intact prehistoric tools and weapons were found on the site. "Additional study of the material and workmanship represented by the tools could yield information about [prehistoric toolmaking] and formal tool production," Elkins wrote. Twenty-one of the artifacts were specified in the archaeologist' s report. Seventeen of them are "bifaces," such as axe-heads. Three are "projectile point fragments," such as spearheads. And one tool is a "scraper or knife," the report states. Fragments of more artifacts were found in the area, according to the report, but not specified. "The high density of formal tools, as well as all stages of tool manufacture, could indicate a long occupation of the site," Elkins wrote. No structures, or evidence of them, were found nearby. Prehistoric sites in the valley are "somewhat rare," according to the report. Elkins declined to comment further on her report, she said, because it is on private land. The largely undisturbed and undeveloped area, she wrote, likely has not changed much since our prehistoric predecessors settled there. "The site' s location and setting with views of the surrounding mountain range, and its close proximity to water sources are likely very similar to that during its prehistoric occupation," she wrote. The county commissioners are planning to visit the site to inspect the findings. They will meet in June to determine whether to deem it historic and to grant the owners the transferable development rights they seek, or to find a different solution. The owners could sell those transferable development rights to people seeking to build homes larger than the county' s 5,750-square-foot code limit. "I think it would be great for everybody to see the site and come up with a plan," Mitch Haas, the owner' s representative, told the commissioners Wednesday.
Related News:
|
