The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site (5GA1955) is a Paleoindian site located on the shore of the

Williams Fork Reservoir Williams Fork Reservoir, located near the town of Parshall in Grand County, Colorado, is owned and operated by Denver Water. The reservoir impounds the Williams Fork of the Colorado River. Geography When the reservoir is full, its elevation is . ...

, about southeast of Kremmling at an elevation of 2400 m (7874 ft.) in Grand County,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, near the center of Middle Park.

Projectile point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have be ...

s were found on the site from the James Allen complex (generally 9350 – 7900 before present) and Goshen / Plainview (generally 11,000 before present).

Geography

The Phillips-William site sits on a terrace between the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...

and the Williams Fork Tributary. The area surrounding the intersection of these two drainages maintains a relatively flat slope for 5–10 miles in every direction until the terraces intersect the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountere ...

to the east, the Rabbit Ears Range to the North and the

Gore Range The Gore Range (elevation approximately 12,000 ft) is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of north central Colorado in the United States. Geography The range runs for approximately 60 miles (100 km) northwest-to-southeast, through ...

to the southwest.

History

Discovery

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site was discovered and collected over a five-year period by Ralph and Ruth Phillips, husband and wife. No excavations have been conducted at the site and all specimens are reported as being recovered during surface collection.

Artifacts

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage is dominated by James Allen

projectile point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have be ...

s although two specimens resembling the Goshen/Plainview type were also recovered. Despite the presence of parallel-oblique flaking, some of the points reflect morphological variability that does not allow a quick assignment to the James Allen category. Wiesend and Frison (1998:19) refer to these points as falling within the “grey area” of the James Allen type classification. Despite variations among the 30 specimens, metric analyses showed that the specimens were indeed of the James Allen and Goshen/Plainview types. The single publication on the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage reports 28 projectile points of the James Allen variety and 2 projectile points of the Goshen/Plainview variety. Currently, there is no information about other recovered tool forms or

debitage In archaeology, debitage is all the material produced during the process of lithic reduction – the production of stone tools and weapons by knapping stone. This assemblage may include the different kinds of lithic flakes and lithic blades, b ...

from the site. Relative dates for both categories have been established using radiocarbon dates from sites with similar assemblages from

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, and elsewhere. These dates are 9350 – 7900 radiocarbon years for Jimmy Allen (Pitblado 2003) and 11,000 radiocarbon years for Goshen/Plainview (Frison 1991). No

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...

l remains have been reported for this site.

Historical significance

The Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site provides archaeologists with the opportunity to assess the extent to which James Allen (and perhaps earlier) groups were utilizing mountain settings during the early

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

period. When compared to other, similar sites in Colorado, the frequency of points in the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir site assemblage is most similar to assemblages from large, communal

bison Bison are large bovines in the genus ''Bison'' (Greek: "wild ox" (bison)) within the tribe Bovini. Two extant and numerous extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American bison, ''B. bison'', found only in North Ame ...

kills in the eastern portions of the state. The absence of evidence for a bison (or other species) kill site and the low occurrence of impact fractures (a common result of point use in hunting) on points raises questions about the nature of the collection. The presence of bend breaks (breaks causing during manufacture) indicates the site may have acted as some sort of temporary camp. The additional presence of Goshen/Plainview points at the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir is important as it indicates that the site was either multi-component, that individuals were finding and reusing older projectile points, or that the Goshen/Plainview form may have continued or been adopted by flintknappers of later periods.

References

*Wiesend, Christiane M., and George C. Frison. 1998. "Parallel-Obliquely Flaked Projectile Points from the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site (5GA1955) in Middle Park, Colorado". ''Southwestern Lore'' 64(1):8-21. *Frison, G.C. 1991. ''Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains'', 2nd Edition. Academic Press, New York. *Pitblado, B.L. 2003. ''Late Paleoindian Occupation of the Southern Rocky Mountains: Early Holocene Projectile Points and Land Use in the High Country''. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site Paleo-Indian archaeological sites in Colorado Geography of Grand County, Colorado Pre-Columbian cultures

Geography

History

Discovery

Artifacts

Historical significance

See also

References