Publication: Fort Carson Cultural Resources Management Series, Vol. 1
Author: Mark Owens
Date of Publication: October 2004
PDF File: Owens-and-Loendorf-2004-ARCHAEOLOGICAL-SITES-INVENTORY-OF-THE-TRAINING-ARE.pdf
Copyright Info: Approved for Public Release
Description
During a large archaeological survey at the Pifion Canyon Maneuver Site, Las Animas County, Colorado, 315 sites were identified. The Pifion Canyon Maneuver Site is a large military base used by the United States Army as a training area for mechanized tracked and wheeled vehicle maneuvers. Most sites are cultural material scatters or places where fragments of chipped-stone flaking debris, chipped-stone tools, or ground-stone tools are exposed on the ground surface. Nearly a quarter of the project sites, however, contain the remnants of stone houses like tipi rings or Apishapa phase structures. Project sites are often found along the canyon edges where access to food and water is good. As such, the types of artifacts identified by archaeologists at these locations indicate canyon areas were used for the past 10,000 years.