Prehistoric tools and weapons found in Pitkin County

More than two dozen prehistoric tools and weapons found on an undeveloped plot in Pitkin County could provide archaeologists information about hunter-gatherer toolmaking in the West.

The find, on private property in the Emma area, was reported last week to the Pitkin County commissioners. The owners of the site, David Brown and Jody Anthes, have building rights on the property. They asked the local government last week to place it, instead, on the county’s historical register and grant them two transferable development rights.

An archaeological survey of the site, conducted in December and made public last week, concluded the artifacts are from the Archaic Period, which ran roughly from 6,400 to 400 B.C.

Archaeologists who surveyed the site for its owners recommended it as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Archaic hunter-gatherer peoples did not settle in villages or develop agricultural skills. They are believed to have followed small game around what is now Colorado, and gathered plants.

In archaeology terms, the Bear Ridge Road finding is a “lithic scatter,” meaning tools or weapons made by humans are concentrated in the area. It indicates they stayed there making tools and weapons.

Learn more about the find and the site at the Aspen Daily News website.