The geoarchaeological and paleoenvironmental context of Paleoindian sites in western Middle Park,Colorado, USA

Geoarchaeological investigations in western Middle Park provide important information for understanding the soil‐stratigraphic context of Paleoindian components, as well as the latest Quaternary environmental change and landscape evolution in a Southern Rocky Mountain intermontane basin. Paleoindian components are associated with the oldest two of four latest Quaternary stratigraphic units (1–4) recognized in co‐alluvial mantles (combined slopewash and colluvium) in uplands and in alluvial valley fills. Limited data suggest accumulation of unit 1 as early as ～12,500 ¹⁴C yr B.P. in alluvial valleys and by at least ～11,000 ¹⁴C yr B.P. in uplands was followed by brief stability and soil formation. A relatively widespread disconformity marks earliest Holocene erosion and substantial removal of latest Pleistocene deposits in upland and alluvial settings followed by unit 2 deposition ～10,000–9000 ¹⁴C yr B.P., perhaps signaling the abrupt onset of an intensified summer monsoon. In situ Paleoindian components in uplands are found in a moderately developed buried soil (the Kremmling soil) formed in units 1 and 2 in thin (≤1m) hillslope co‐alluvial mantles. The Kremmling soil reflects geomorphic stability in upland and alluvial settings ～9000–4500 ¹⁴C yr BP, and represents a buried landscape with the potential to contain additional Paleoindian components, although elsewhere in western Middle Park Early Archaic components are documented in morphologically similar soils. Kremmling soil morphology, the relative abundance of charcoal in unit 2 relative to younger units, and charcoal morphology indicate the expansion of forest cover, including Pinus, and grass cover during the early and middle Holocene, suggesting conditions moister than present. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.