1. Module 4 – The
Early Inhabitants of
Colorado
At the end of this lesson, students
will UNDERSTAND that people
have been making Colorado their
home for thousands of years.
You will learn about the following ESSENTIAL
terms: TAKE NOTES!!! QUESTION:
Bering Strait Land Bridge
Theory, other migration WHO WERE
theories, Clovis, and Folsom THESE
People, Archaic PEOPLE AND HOW
Hunters, wickiups, obsidian, pem DID THEY
mican, and atlatl SURVIVE?

2. There are several new
How did people get to and competing theories
this continent in the on how the ancestors of
first place?
Native American tribes
came to this
continent. However, the
most accepted and
popular belief is known
as the Bering Strait
Land Bridge Theory. On
the next slide, watch the
short video and take
notes.

3. Bering Strait Land
Bridge Theory

4. Other Theories and
Perspectives: The
Solutrean Hypothesis
Over the last twenty
years, scientists
have refined DNA
research which has
opened up some
very interesting
questions that
challenges the Land
Bridge Theory.
There has been new
archaeological
evidence that also
suggests that Native
Peoples may have
arrived in the
Western
Hemisphere by
means other than
the “Land Bridge”.
Again, watch this
short video and
take notes.

5. A Native American
Perspective – from the
Navajo
Almost all people have
their own stories of where
they came from. One thing
to always remember, no
one knows for sure exactly
how we all came to be.
There are only
stories, hypothesis’ and
theories. What we can
know is that in all of these
stories, are lessons and
things that we can learn.
Watch this short clip on the
Navajo and ask
yourself, “are their any
similarities to the first two
‘scientific clips’?”
Again, take notes on what
you see.

6. Colorado
The Clovis People
The oldest evidence of man in
Colorado dates back to the Clovis
people, who inhabited the
southwest region about 15,000 -
11,000 years ago. This group were
early mammoth hunters, who
used a spear with a four to five
inch long projectile point with a
flute running partway up the
center of the point from the
base. These points were time
consuming and difficult to
make, so the hunters probably
tried to retrieve their points from Here is an atlatl demonstration. Of course, they
the game they killed. To
are throwing at fake stationary targets.
hunt, they would attempt to trap
these large animals and spear Imagine if these were 11 to 13 ft. high wooly
them or even run the over a mammoths or large prehistoric bison. I
cliff. Most archaeologists believe suspect that it would have made for a whole
that these people were very
skillful hunters and used spears
different experience.
with atlatls, the predecessor of the
bow and arrow.

7. Colorado
The Clovis People
(continued)
In order to bring down a
mammoth, sometimes the Clovis people
would surround it with their spears ready
to pierce the inch-thick skin, while another
Clovis hunter snuck in with a knife and
crippled the mammoth by cutting its leg
tendons. Since it was so difficult to kill a
mammoth, most of the time the Clovis
people probably survived on plants and
small game. Then 11,000 year ago, the ice
started to thaw out, the Bering Strait Land
Bridge broke up, and the mammoths, along
with saber-toothed tiger, short-faced
bear, and the early horse died out.
The following website is one of the best that
I have found that provides a tremendous
amount of information on what we
currently know about the Clovis People. I
highly recommend that you take some time
and explore this site.

8. Colorado
The Folsom People
Click picture for Folsom link
The next group of early inhabitants were the Folsom People. Since the
mammoth were gone, it was no longer necessary to have the long projectile
point, so the Folsom hunters created a shorter projectile point with a longer
groove in the center. The Folsom people hunted bison (a bigger variety than
today's bison (buffalo)). Unlike the totally nomadic Clovis, archeological
evidence showed that Folsom People might have had home camps, an area
they would return to every year and spend considerable time at the same
spot. The Folsom did not make permanent structures; instead, they would
have built Wickiups (a structure that had some wooden poles, with either
bison hide or brush used for protection. Similar to the more familiar tipi.) At
one of the archeological Folsom excavation sites, tools made from obsidian
were found. The closest obsidian stone quarry was in New Mexico and
Yellowstone National Park, so either the Folsom people traveled great
distances, or trade was already spreading throughout the tribes.

9. Archaic
Hunter-Gatherers
The Archaic hunter-gatherers were the next major group to occupy
Colorado. This group followed the herds of deer, elk, bighorn
sheep, antelope, and bison and moved around seasonally. The Archaic
women had the awesome responsibility of making sure the tribes had
enough food to survive the winter. Therefore, the women became very
good at finding supplemental food supplies. They gathered Indian
rice, grass, hackberry, chokecherry, wild buckwheat, prickly pear
cactus, yampa roots, prairie turnips, and pinion nuts. The Archaic women
did not have clay pots; they used stomachs of animals, hide bags, or tightly
woven baskets covered with pitch to cook in. They would heat rocks in a
fire, then drop the rocks into the "pot" to cook the stew. The women also
made Pemmican, the Archaic version of a powerbar! Pemmican was dried
meat and berries, pounded into a powder with animal fat poured over the
mixture. It was then dried in the sun, and cut into strips. Pemmican lasted
for months, was high in protein, and was very easy to eat and take when
traveling.

10. Archaic hunters also developed new methods to
capture small game. They would make nets out
of yucca fiber and human hair and stretch them
across a game trail. Then a group of hunters
Archaic would start going through the brush, chasing the
Hunter-Gatherers small game into the net. Rabbits were the main
(continued) source of small game; they supplemented the
Archaic peoples' diet, as well as provided pelts
for blankets and clothing. For hunting bigger
game such as deer and elk, the hunters would
sometimes dig a pit along a game trail route, and
then cover the pit with brush. The big game
would make its way down the path, and would
find itself captured inside of a pit!
The Archaic people basically lived on the
Western slope of Colorado, only venturing onto
the plains for hunting trips for bison. The Archaic
people, and some of their traditions, will be an
integral part of future Native American tribes,
especially the Ute people.