The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site (5GA1955) is a

Paleoindian Paleo-Indians were the first peoples who entered and subsequently inhabited the Americas towards the end of the Late Pleistocene period. The prefix ''paleo-'' comes from . The term ''Paleo-Indians'' applies specifically to the lithic period in ...

site located on the shore of the

Williams Fork Reservoir Williams Fork Reservoir, located near the town of Parshall in Grand County, Colorado, is owned and operated by Denver Water. The reservoir impounds the Williams Fork of the Colorado River. Geography When the reservoir is full, its elevation is ...

, about southeast of Kremmling at an elevation of 2400 m (7874 ft.) in Grand County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, near the center of Middle Park.

Projectile point In archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have been kept in the ...

s were found on the site from the James Allen complex (generally 9350 – 7900 before present) and Goshen / Plainview (generally 11,000 before present).

Geography

The Phillips-William site sits on a terrace between the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

and the Williams Fork Tributary. The area surrounding the intersection of these two drainages maintains a relatively flat slope for 5–10 miles in every direction until the terraces intersect the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encounter ...

to the east, the

Rabbit Ears Range The Rabbit Ears Range is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in north-central Colorado in the United States. The range stretches east–west along the continental divide, forming the border between Grand and Jackson counties, and separating ...

to the North and the

Gore Range The Gore Range (elevation approximately 12,000 ft) is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of north central Colorado in the United States. The native Ute name was the Shining Mountains. Geography The range runs for approximately 60 mile ...

to the southwest.

History

Discovery

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site was discovered and collected over a five-year period by Ralph and Ruth Phillips, husband and wife. No excavations have been conducted at the site and all specimens are reported as being recovered during surface collection.

Artifacts

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage is dominated by James Allen

projectile point In archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have been kept in the ...

s although two specimens resembling the Goshen/Plainview type were also recovered. Despite the presence of parallel-oblique flaking, some of the points reflect morphological variability that does not allow a quick assignment to the James Allen category. Wiesend and Frison (1998:19) refer to these points as falling within the “grey area” of the James Allen type classification. Despite variations among the 30 specimens, metric analyses showed that the specimens were indeed of the James Allen and Goshen/Plainview types. The single publication on the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage reports 28 projectile points of the James Allen variety and 2 projectile points of the Goshen/Plainview variety. Currently, there is no information about other recovered tool forms or

debitage In archaeology, debitage is all the material produced during the process of lithic reduction – the production of stone tools and weapons by knapping stone. This Assemblage (archaeology), assemblage may include the different kinds of lithic fla ...

from the site. Relative dates for both categories have been established using radiocarbon dates from sites with similar assemblages from

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, and elsewhere. These dates are 9350 – 7900 radiocarbon years for Jimmy Allen (Pitblado 2003) and 11,000 radiocarbon years for Goshen/Plainview (Frison 1991). No

fauna Fauna (: faunae or faunas) is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding terms for plants and fungi are ''flora'' and '' funga'', respectively. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively ...

l remains have been reported for this site.

Historical significance

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site provides archaeologists with the opportunity to assess the extent to which James Allen (and perhaps earlier) groups were utilizing mountain settings during the early

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

period. When compared to other, similar sites in Colorado, the frequency of points in the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage is most similar to assemblages from large, communal

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

kills in the eastern portions of the state. The absence of evidence for a bison (or other species) kill site and the low occurrence of impact fractures (a common result of point use in hunting) on points raises questions about the nature of the collection. The presence of bend breaks (breaks causing during manufacture) indicates the site may have acted as some sort of temporary camp. The additional presence of Goshen/Plainview points at the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir is important as it indicates that the site was either multi-component, that individuals were finding and reusing older projectile points, or that the Goshen/Plainview form may have continued or been adopted by flintknappers of later periods.

References

*Wiesend, Christiane M., and George C. Frison. 1998. "Parallel-Obliquely Flaked Projectile Points from the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site (5GA1955) in Middle Park, Colorado". ''Southwestern Lore'' 64(1):8-21. *Frison, G.C. 1991. ''Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains'', 2nd Edition. Academic Press, New York. *Pitblado, B.L. 2003. ''Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains: Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country''. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in Colorado Geography of Grand County, Colorado Pre-Columbian cultures

Geography

History

Discovery

Artifacts

Historical significance

See also

References