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Earliest Inhabitants

© 1985 by Andrew J. Morris

Just when it was that man first came into Larimer County is of course impossible to determine with any certainty, but we can make some good guesses by looking at the earliest and latest possible dates. The earliest date would be soon after man first entered the new world, while the latest date is the same as the earliest date for which we have firm archaeological evidence of mans presence in the area.

The question of just when man entered the New World is a controversial one. There is plenty of evidence for man's presence some twelve to thirteen thousand years ago. The predominant theory is that nomadic hunters first entered America over a land bridge that connected Alaska to Asia during the ice ages. This land bridge appeared when sea levels dropped because vast amounts of water were locked up in huge polar glaciers. With climatic fluctuations, the glaciers melted and the seas flooded over the land bridge, only to recede again with the next ice age.

So most archaeologists would agree that men crossed over this land bridge during the last Ice Age. But were these the first men in the Americas? Perhaps not. Growing evidence supports the theory that men were in fact here earlier, perhaps much earlier. More and more sites are being reported from 25,000 and even 50,000 years ago. As might be expected from such early sites, dateable material is sparse and therefore the dating is controversial.

Surprisingly, some of the earliest sites are being reported from South America. This suggests that these earliest inhabitants either arrived by a route other than the land bridge, or they spread very rapidly after entering the New World. Both theories have their adherents, and each group has both weak and strong points in their arguments, but the issue is too ill defined to belabor here.

We can conclude then that the earliest date for man in Larimer County may be as far back as 50,000 years ago, but such an early date is considered implausible by many. Most archaeologists would agree however that the area was probably inhabited by 13,000 to 15,000 years ago. Now let's turn to existing evidence for the earliest proven presence of man in Larimer County. The Lindenmeier site, located in northern Larimer County about one mile south of the Wyoming border, is the oldest site in the county for which we have a firm date. Two radiocarbon dates from different parts of the site yielded dates of 10,780 and 11,200 years ago. The radiocarbon method does not yield an exact date, but the dates given are thought to be accurate within about 400 years one way or the other. So we can say with some certainty that Larimer County was occupied by about 11,000 years ago.

These early inhabitants lived in a land that we would find quite strange, yet hauntingly familiar, if we could be transported back through time to their world. The mountains had the same peaks and valleys, but forests were found on lower slopes than they are today, and the high valleys still held creeping tongues of glacial ice. The high mountains stood white and gleaming even in the summer sun, ice everywhere except on the cliffs so steep not even ice could cling to them. Rivers like the Poudre and Big Thompson would run opaque with brown glacial silt through the summer, following courses not unlike they do today, though differing in detail, the sinuous curves snaking across different parts of their valleys. Overall, temperatures were cooler, but not so extreme that you would notice on a day to day basis. There was probably a little more rain, and deeper more persistent snows. The foothills had more trees then, and small groves were scattered out on the plains where later only grasses grew. Most astonishing to our eyes would be the wildlife. Huge bison, a good 25% larger than modern buffalo and with heads twice as large as their modern counterparts roamed over the plains in massive herds. Even stranger beasts, mammoths and giant groundsloths, could be found. Most of the animals we know here today could also be found here then, from rabbits and birds through antelope and deer. Also, there were animals that we know from other areas but no longer see in Larimer County, like grizzly bears.

The people who lived in this area at that early time were hunters of big game animals, especially the bison. Little is left of the material culture of these peoples, mostly stone tools and a few bones, but their culture was probably much richer than is indicated by these few imperishable scraps that have withstood the ravages of time.

The climate was such that shelter and warm clothing were essential to survival, so it is likely that the hides of the animals they hunted were used for these purposes. They probably constructed small huts with a framework of branches and covering of rush or hides or both. When they were in regions with caves or natural rockshelters they undoubtedly utilized these for shelter.

They also must have had some means of preserving food, most likely through drying and storage in hide containers and perhaps woven baskets. There would be an abundance of food in the summer, but when the winter snows fell it was more difficult to obtain sustenance, so they most likely at least supplemented their winter food supply with stored goods.

It is obvious from the remains of their camps that they relied heavily on big game animals for food, but it is likely that a large part of their diet consisted of plant foods, including greens, roots, nuts and berries. The technology required to gather and prepare these foodstuffs is much less likely to be preserved in the archaeological record because of the perishable nature of the materials involved.

These early Native Americans were apparently nomadic, traveling from one place to another in order to take the best advantage of the scattered resources on which they depended for their livelihood. It seems likely that they formed large summer camps with many families cooperating to hunt the big game animals, especially those found in herds such as buffalo. These are most efficiently hunted by large groups who can manipulate the movement of the herd through carefully planned, coordinated action. In this way dozens of animals can be killed at one time, and the work of butchering, hiade treatment, and drying excess meat, can be shared.

In the winter time these large groups would have to break up into smaller units of a few families each. These small groups would spread out over the land to take best advantage of the scarcer resources.

One very important archaeological site in Larimre County is known to date from this early "paleo-indian" period, the Lindenmeier site. The site was named for the family whose land it was found. Archaeological reconstruction fo the events that led to the formation of the site suggest that it was occupied between 11,000 and 11,500 years ago. The site was probably used repeatedly for a few weeks in autumn as a meeting place and campsite. It looks as if at least two independent bands met here to join forces for a communal hunt, one coming down from the north and the other moving up from the south. With enough hunters assempled, they could kill many of the oversized buffalo at one time, and share in the butchering, drying the meat and curing hides. They probably used either the surround method or forced the animals into some kind of natural trap, to effect their kill with long thrusting spears (bows and arrows had not been invented yet). Carcasses would be partially butchered at the kill site, then the hides and chunks of meat brought back to the camp for further processing.

That lifestyle did not change drastically for thousands of years. In time though, the human population grew and previously little used parts of the environment were occupied. Some researchers believe that as early as seven to nine thousand years ago, two distinct cultures could be found in northern Colorado. One group, nomadic hunters of the plains, relied heavily on herd animals for their subsistence. Another group occupied the mountainous areas and western Colorado. Their subsistence would have been more diversified, with reliance on a mixed bag of small and large game, and plant resources. Larimer County, straddling the border between the two zones, would have been a point of contact between the two groups.

By about five thousand years ago there is some indication that a fundamental form of horticulture was being practiced along the Rocky Mountain foothills in Colorado, but it is not clear if this trend reached as far north as Larimer County. By some 3500 years ago the plains influence once again dominated, and there is no further sign of horticulture.

Sometime between two and four thousand years ago the bow and arrow was probably introduced, lending a new technological thrust to their hunting methods. Hunting continued to be the prime form of subsistence activity until about 700 A.D. when the Easterners moved in. Called High Plains Woodland Culture by archaeologists, these people were less nomadic than their predecessors. They relied heavily on agriculture, possessed pottery, and seem to have carried on trade with their Western neighbors of the Fremont Culture.

Pottery, agriculture and the settled way of life all disappeared from the Rocky Mountain foothills when the horse was introduced. Originally brought into Mexico (New Spain) by the Spanish in the 16th century, use of the horse spread rapidly northward, probably reaching northern Colorado sometime between 1650 and 1700 A.D.

With the new mobility offered by the horse, many Native Americans took up their old nomadic, buffalo hunting lifestyle, now much easier on horseback and with bow and arrows. Those who wished to retain the agricultural lifestyle could not adequately defend themselves and their crops from the nomadic raiders, so they too had to adopt a hunting life again, or join their agricultural neighbors to the southwest, descendants of the Anasazi, whose strong pueblo fortifications and defensive positions allowed them to withstand the raids from the plains.

In the mountains, life was not much changed. The terrain and lifestyle was not as conducive to the equestrian revolution that swept the plains. One can't go galloping off after elk in the mountains as if it were a plains buffalo after all. For the most part, the mountain people remained on foot and let the rugged terrain protect them from their enemies on the plains.

And so, when the white men began to encroach on the natives' land in Colorado in the mid 1800s, they found the Arapaho and Cheyenne in firm control of the plains of northeast Colorado. In the mountains the Utes reigned supreme, with some Shoshoni in the far northern mountains, bording Wyoming. The foothills area was in dispute, claimed by both sides.

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