Archeology

Did You Know?

Archeology is one of the fundamental resources and values identified in the park's foundation document. Curecanti National Recreation Area holds stories from 10,000 years of human presence, revealing a continuum of changing cultures, values, and technologies.

 

Hearths discovered at an archeological site in 1980.

NPS photo

Archeological surveys and excavations have provided a better idea of human use around the Upper Gunnison River Basin, hunting and gathering techniques, diet, and cooking methods. Most sites within the recreation area are concentrated amounts of chipped rocks, known as lithic scatters. Petroglyphs (rock peckings) were also recorded on rocks now underwater at Blue Mesa Reservoir.

Most archeological work at Curecanti took place during the late 1970s and early 1980s. National Park Service archeologists conducted surveys and excavations during this time because park buildings and campgrounds were being constructed. According to the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act, 1974 (P.L. 93-291), federal agencies are required to preserve historic and archeological objects and materials that would otherwise be lost or destroyed as the result of projects, licensed activities, or programs.

Archeologists have uncovered evidence of prehistoric hunting and gathering camps around present day Curecanti. These camps were on open benches above the river from which large and small game could be spotted. In places where large amounts of lithics (stone points and tools) were found, archeologists dug deeper to discover stone-lined hearths with burned remains of wood, animals, and plants. Charcoal from these hearths was used for dating through an extensive radiocarbon dating process. Archeologists then compare these radiocarbon dates with spear point, stone tool, and/or arrowhead styles found at the same site, to verify when the camp was occupied. Samples of animal and plant remains were also analyzed to see how the environment changed over the last 10,000 years.

Today around 425 sites and isolated finds are recorded within Curecanti National Recreation Area. More than 5,000 acres of the 42,000 acres of the recreation area are conserved as the Curecanti Archeological District and recognized on the National Register of Historic Places.

Prohibited Activities

If you find any kind of evidence of earlier people, such as pottery pieces, arrowheads, or other historic items, look but do not touch. Under the Code of Federal Regulations, no person may excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface, or attempt to excavate, remove, damage, or otherwise alter or deface any archaeological resource located on public lands or Indian lands unless such activity is pursuant to a permit issued the law's specific determinations. These regulations are to protect the common history of our nation.

 

 

Resources

Archeological Reports on file in Curecanti National Recreation Area Resource Library.

Bruce A. Jones, "Radiocarbon Dates From the Gunnison Basin, Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado," Southwestern Lore, Colorado Archeology Society, Vol 50, No 3, September 1984, p. 14-21.

Duane Vandenbusche, Gunnison Country, B&B Printers, Gunnison, CO, 1980

E. Steve Cassells, The Archeology of Colorado, Johnson Books, Boulder, CO, 1997 (revised ed).

History Colorado. https://www.historycolorado.org/

Mark R. Guthrie and others, Colorado Mountain Prehistoric Context, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, 1984