Roxborough State Park Archaeological District
Encyclopedia
Roxborough State Park Archaeological District is located in Douglas County, Colorado
near the town of Waterton. Roxborough State Park
, 25 miles (40.2 km) south of Denver, Colorado
, is a Colorado State Park
day park. Archaeological artifacts reflect that there were prehistoric hunter-gatherer
s who lived or camped, made tools from stone quarries, and farmed in the Roxborough State Park area.
Early native people inhabited the area between 4999 BC and 1000 AD and again from 1900 to 1924 AD. Roxborough State Park Archaeological District was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places
in 1983.
, a Colorado State Park
known for dramatic red sandstone
formations. In 1980 it was recognized as a National Natural Landmark
because of the number of ecological systems and geological formations. It is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District because of the number of archaeological sites.
Several ecosystem
s are found at Roxborough: forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, prairie
, and woodland
s that support many forms of wildlife. There are 145 bird, over 50 butterfly and moth, and 11 amphibian and reptile species. Animals commonly found in the park include black bear
, coyote
, deer
, elk
, fox
, prairie dog
, and rabbit
. Sources of water include Little Willow Creek, Willow Creek and Mill Gulch. Elevations range from 5900 to 7280 ft (1,798.3 to 2,218.9 m).
, prehistoric time periods are traditionally identified as: Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland (Ceramic) periods. The Denver basin is a geological definition of a portion of the Colorado Piedmont
from Colorado Springs to Wyoming. The Palmer Divide
, with elevations from 6,000 to 7,500, is a subsection of that area that separates the South Platte River
watershed from that of the Arkansas River
. It runs perpendicular to the Rocky Mountains and divides the Denver metropolitan area from the southern Pikes Peak area.
. This period occurred at the end of the Ice Age
when there was significant glacial run-off so that much of the land was covered by lakes and savannas. As this period of time ended the land dried up into desert and required people to adapt. The changes resulted in the Archaic period and people became hunters of smaller mammals and gatherers.
Archaic people built stone walls structures. The Roxborough residents accessed two quarries within Roxborough's Hogback region to create tools in the early Archaic period through later periods. There were a number of quarries found within Roxborough that, depending upon the site, contained jasper
, opal
, petrified wood
, and quartzite
.
are 12 archaeological sites of nomad
ic Paleo-Indians and Native Americans, as well as some artifacts from early European American settlers in the Stagecoach area.
Archaeological surveys have shown that people lived for periods of time during the Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland prehistoric periods. Over time the lifestyle transitioned from primarily hunting bison to a culture that farmed, created their own goods, traded and developed a complex society.
Trade by the ancient culture is suggested by the presence of catlinite
pipe pieces both at the Franktown Cave
and Roxborough sites. Catlinite is indigenous to Minnesota
. The majority of artifacts, though, were from the late Archaic and Woodland periods. While at Roxborough, they lived in protected areas near water. They may have wintered in the area, based upon their use of south and western facing shelters. Ancient people who lived or traveled through the land were ancestors to Apache
, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche
and Ute tribes. Utes used the Stagecoach area for summer hunting grounds and passed through the area to their northern grounds. Their trails became County Roads 14 and 18.
Douglas County, Colorado
Douglas County is the eighth most populous of the 64 counties of the state of Colorado, in the United States. The county is located midway between Colorado's two largest cities: Denver and Colorado Springs...
near the town of Waterton. Roxborough State Park
Roxborough State Park
Roxborough State Park is a Colorado State Park known for dramatic red sandstone formations. Located in Douglas County south of Denver, Colorado, the park was established in 1975. In 1980 it was recognized as a National Natural Landmark.-Geography:...
, 25 miles (40.2 km) south of Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, is a Colorado State Park
Colorado State Parks
Colorado State Parks manages the Colorado state parks system. The system administers 42 parks.-History:*1937. The state legislature appointed a land board to create the first State Parks Board....
day park. Archaeological artifacts reflect that there were prehistoric hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s who lived or camped, made tools from stone quarries, and farmed in the Roxborough State Park area.
Early native people inhabited the area between 4999 BC and 1000 AD and again from 1900 to 1924 AD. Roxborough State Park Archaeological District was added to the list of National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1983.
Geography
The Archaeological District is located within the 3,299-acre Roxborough State ParkRoxborough State Park
Roxborough State Park is a Colorado State Park known for dramatic red sandstone formations. Located in Douglas County south of Denver, Colorado, the park was established in 1975. In 1980 it was recognized as a National Natural Landmark.-Geography:...
, a Colorado State Park
Colorado State Parks
Colorado State Parks manages the Colorado state parks system. The system administers 42 parks.-History:*1937. The state legislature appointed a land board to create the first State Parks Board....
known for dramatic red sandstone
Fountain Formation
The Fountain Formation is a Pennsylvanian bedrock unit consisting primarily of conglomerate, sandstone, or arkose, in the states of Colorado and Wyoming in the USA, along the east side of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, and along the west edge of the Denver Basin.-Origin of name:The...
formations. In 1980 it was recognized as a National Natural Landmark
National Natural Landmark
The National Natural Landmark program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only natural areas program of national scope that identifies and recognizes the best examples of biological and geological features in...
because of the number of ecological systems and geological formations. It is also a State Historic Site and National Cultural District because of the number of archaeological sites.
Several ecosystem
Ecosystem
An ecosystem is a biological environment consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving , physical components of the environment with which the organisms interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight....
s are found at Roxborough: forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
, and woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s that support many forms of wildlife. There are 145 bird, over 50 butterfly and moth, and 11 amphibian and reptile species. Animals commonly found in the park include black bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...
, coyote
Coyote
The coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, elk
Elk
The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...
, fox
Fox
Fox is a common name for many species of omnivorous mammals belonging to the Canidae family. Foxes are small to medium-sized canids , characterized by possessing a long narrow snout, and a bushy tail .Members of about 37 species are referred to as foxes, of which only 12 species actually belong to...
, prairie dog
Prairie dog
Prairie dogs are burrowing rodents native to the grasslands of North America. There are five different species of prairie dogs: black-tailed, white-tailed, Gunnison's, Utah and Mexican prairie dogs. They are a type of ground squirrel, found in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
, and rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
. Sources of water include Little Willow Creek, Willow Creek and Mill Gulch. Elevations range from 5900 to 7280 ft (1,798.3 to 2,218.9 m).
History
Within the Denver BasinDenver Basin
The Denver Basin, sometimes also called the Julesburg Basin, Denver-Julesburg Basin , or the D-J Basin, is a geologic structural basin centered in eastern Colorado in the United States, but extending into southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska, and western Kansas...
, prehistoric time periods are traditionally identified as: Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland (Ceramic) periods. The Denver basin is a geological definition of a portion of the Colorado Piedmont
Colorado Piedmont
The Colorado Piedmont is the geologic term for an area along the base of the foothills of the Front Range in north central Colorado in the United States...
from Colorado Springs to Wyoming. The Palmer Divide
Palmer Divide
The Palmer Divide is a ridge in central Colorado that separates the Arkansas River basin from the Missouri River basin. It extends from the Front Range of the Rockies in central Colorado, eastward toward the town of Limon....
, with elevations from 6,000 to 7,500, is a subsection of that area that separates the South Platte River
South Platte River
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West, located in the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska...
watershed from that of the Arkansas River
Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's initial basin starts in the Western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas...
. It runs perpendicular to the Rocky Mountains and divides the Denver metropolitan area from the southern Pikes Peak area.
Paleo-Indians 9550-5850 BC
Paleo-Indians were primarily hunters of large mammals, such as the large Bison antiquusBison antiquus
Bison antiquus, sometimes called the ancient bison, was the most common large herbivore of the North American continent for over ten thousand years, and is a direct ancestor of the living American bison....
. This period occurred at the end of the Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
when there was significant glacial run-off so that much of the land was covered by lakes and savannas. As this period of time ended the land dried up into desert and required people to adapt. The changes resulted in the Archaic period and people became hunters of smaller mammals and gatherers.
Archaic period 5850-3050 BC
People of the Archaic period were hunters of smaller game, such as deer, antelope and rabbits, and gatherers of wild plants. The people moved seasonally to hunting and gathering sites. Late in the Archaic period, about 200-500 A.D., corn was introduced into the diet and pottery-making became an occupation for storing and caring food.Archaic people built stone walls structures. The Roxborough residents accessed two quarries within Roxborough's Hogback region to create tools in the early Archaic period through later periods. There were a number of quarries found within Roxborough that, depending upon the site, contained jasper
Jasper
Jasper, a form of chalcedony, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. This mineral breaks with a smooth surface, and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for vases, seals, and at one time for...
, opal
Opal
Opal is an amorphous form of silica related to quartz, a mineraloid form, not a mineral. 3% to 21% of the total weight is water, but the content is usually between 6% to 10%. It is deposited at a relatively low temperature and may occur in the fissures of almost any kind of rock, being most...
, petrified wood
Petrified wood
Petrified wood is the name given to a special type of fossilized remains of terrestrial vegetation. It is the result of a tree having turned completely into stone by the process of permineralization...
, and quartzite
Quartzite
Quartzite is a hard metamorphic rock which was originally sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to gray, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink...
.
Woodland period 500-1000 AD
The groups of people during this period became much more diverse, were more likely to settle in a location or a couple of locations, cultivate, domesticate animals, make pottery and baskets, and perform ceremonial rituals.Archaeological findings
The Colorado Archaeological Society Denver chapter conducted the first archaeological study in 1977. Another archaeological study was completed in 2000 to further research known sites and explore unstudied acquired land. On County Road 18 within the Roxborough State ParkRoxborough State Park
Roxborough State Park is a Colorado State Park known for dramatic red sandstone formations. Located in Douglas County south of Denver, Colorado, the park was established in 1975. In 1980 it was recognized as a National Natural Landmark.-Geography:...
are 12 archaeological sites of nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
ic Paleo-Indians and Native Americans, as well as some artifacts from early European American settlers in the Stagecoach area.
Archaeological surveys have shown that people lived for periods of time during the Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Woodland prehistoric periods. Over time the lifestyle transitioned from primarily hunting bison to a culture that farmed, created their own goods, traded and developed a complex society.
Trade by the ancient culture is suggested by the presence of catlinite
Catlinite
Catlinite is a type of argillite , usually brownish-red in color, which occurs in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. Because it is fine-grained and easily worked, it is prized by Native Americans for use in making sacred pipes such as calumets and chanunpas...
pipe pieces both at the Franktown Cave
Franktown Cave
Franktown Cave, located southwest of the town of Franktown in Douglas County, Colorado, was a prehistoric rock shelter between about 6,400 BC and AD 1725. Excavations at the site unearthed a remarkable number of perishable items, including corn, plant material and clothing...
and Roxborough sites. Catlinite is indigenous to Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The majority of artifacts, though, were from the late Archaic and Woodland periods. While at Roxborough, they lived in protected areas near water. They may have wintered in the area, based upon their use of south and western facing shelters. Ancient people who lived or traveled through the land were ancestors to Apache
Apache
Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche
Comanche
The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose historic range consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado, northeastern Arizona, southern Kansas, all of Oklahoma, and most of northwest Texas. Historically, the Comanches were hunter-gatherers, with a typical Plains Indian...
and Ute tribes. Utes used the Stagecoach area for summer hunting grounds and passed through the area to their northern grounds. Their trails became County Roads 14 and 18.