Ice Age Hunters of the Rockies

The ice age hunters of the Rocky Mountains were some of North America's earliest inhabitants. Although many scholars had long suspected that humans entered the Americas at an early date, no concrete proof existed until the find at Folsom, New Mexico, in 1926. There, J.D. Figgens of the Denver Museum of Natural History excavated fossil bison bones in direct association with human-made fluted stone points, demonstrating for the first time that humans and the ice age bison were contemporaries in the American Southwest. In the years following the Folsom discovery, new sites came to light that further confirmed the presence of late Pleistocene hunters in North America. Since the initial discoveries of ice age hunters in America, the ensuing 65 years have witnessed a rapidly enlarged database and the development of increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques that are reinterpreting the archaeological record. Ice Age Hunters of the Rockies explores the many questions that still surround the Pleistocene cultures of 12,000 years ago and the adaptations of these early civilizations to the last great ice age. In this important volume, a diverse group of top scholars discuss issues such as the time of arrival of the first Americans, adaptations to various environments, and the use by early people of high-altitude sites.