Bookcliffs (USA) : archaeologists discover 8,000 year old shelter
Local archaeologists discover 8,000 year old shelter near GJ
Local archaeologists say they've discovered evidence of people living in the Grand Valley 8,000 years ago.
Tim Ciesco
During a recent dig in June, researchers with the Dominguez Anthropological Research Group believe they uncovered a prehistoric stone shelter.
Because of an agreement with the Bureau of Land Management , which oversees the land where the shelter was found, the group could not disclose its exact location -- but says it was north of Grand Junction near the Bookcliffs.
After nearly two years of background work and two months of in ground work, DARG researchers say they made quite the find.
"We found fire pits and storage features," said James Miller, Research Director for DARG. "We also collected all the lithic artifacts, or stone tools."
The group says it also found remnants of posts where a wall would have gone. At first glance, they might not look like anything exciting -- but when you find out how old they are, they become much more interesting.
"The oldest one is about 8,000 years old," said Miller.
Miller says the small stone shelter was likely built by a culture called the Foothills-Mountain people, which lived in North America 8,000 - 10,000 years ago.
"Between the geology and the artifacts, we have a good idea of the age of the deposits right now," said Miller.
CIV 106 - 206 : Civilisations paléo-indiennes / Amerindians of North America
Crews had to dig about 10 feet into the ground to uncover most of the artifacts they collected. Based on those items, experts believe the site was just a temporary shelter rather than a permanent home.
"It was a place where smaller task groups, just a small segment of the population would go and stay for a few days or a week," said Miller. "In most cases, they'd collect vegetable foods and process them before transporting them back to the base camp."
The group says it's sent about dozen samples away for radiocarbon dating and is doing further analysis to support their findings.
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