Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Pre-America
Late Paleo-Indian artifacts of the Cody Cultural Complex indicate that inhabitants relied on
hunting modern bison, while around 7500 years ago some peoples switched to hunting
smaller game - a likely indicator of human population pressure on the declining bison. Pet-
roglyphs near Dinosaur National Monument date back as far as 499 BC, and Colorado has
over 56,000 prehistoric sites dating as far back as 12,000 BC.
The most complex societies in North American antiquity, however, were the agricultural
pueblos of the Colorado Plateau, where cliff dwellers left behind impressive ruins in areas
like Mesa Verde. Today, Mesa Verde National Park is a highlight of a visit to the state, of-
fering the hands-on experience of entering cliff dwellings and joining guided ranger visits.
Many Native American groups occupied the Rocky Mountain region at the time of
European contact. The Utes consisted of six eastern bands in Colorado, territory which
stretched from the Uinta Mountains and the Yampa River in the north to the San Juan River
in the south, and as far east as the Front Range.
Colorado has around 500 ghost towns, a legacy of the boom-bust cycle of the gold- and silver-mining days.
