HELL GAP : PALEO-INDIAN OCCUPATION ON THE HIGH PLAINS by

A resume of archaeological investigations in the Hell Gap Valley of southeastern Wyoming is presented. This research produced a detailed sequence of Plains Paleo Indian occupation of this section of the High Plains from about 9000 to 5500 B.C. Identifiable complexes recognized include Goshen, Midland, Folsom, Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Alberta, Cody, and Frederick. Materials recovered represent camping activities rather than the better known game kills, and add dimension to our knowledge of Plains Paleo-lndian cultures. Archaeological excavations in the Hell Gap Valley of southeastern Wyoming were conducted by Harvard University and the University of Wyoming from 1959 through 1966 with the support of the National Geographic Society, Harvard University, and the American Philosoph ical Society. These investigations revealed the most complete sequence of Paleo-lndian cultural remains yet uncovered on the High Plains. Detailed analysis of artifactual, faunal, and other material is still in progress, and to date only brief and informal sketches of the research have appeared in print (Haynes, Irwin, Irwin-Williams, and Agogino 1965; Irwin, Irwin-Williams, and Agogino 1965). Sufficient information is now available to permit a somewhat more complete resume of the succession of Paleo-lndian occupa tions at Hell Gap. It is hoped that such a resume will be of use not only for specialized studies of Plains Paleo-lndian culture, but also in more general syntheses and considerations of late Pleistocene-early post-Pleistocene human ecology (e.g., Irwin and Wormington 1970; Irwin Williams and Haynes 1970). THE ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT The five archaeological localities (four Paleo lndian, one late prehistoric) which constitute the Hell Gap group are in a small wooded valley in southeastern Wyoming. The valley is at 42? 24' north latitude and 104? 38' west longitude, at an altitude of about 5000 feet (Fig. 1). It is some ten miles from the town of Guernsey on the North Platte River, which provides the principal drainage for the region. The low north-south trending hills, locally termed the "Haystack Mountains," are cut by the Hell Gap valley and by several other comparable small valleys and provide a transitional "Canadian" environment characterized by an open forest of yellow pines and junipers interspersed with several species of grass, yucca, and prickly pear cactus, with willow, box elders, poplars, and other deciduous species in the drainage bottoms (Fig. 2). The mountains themselves are part of the Hartville uplift, and Hell Gap valley, which follows a major fault, exposes Tertiary sediments on its west side and Pre-Cambrian outcrops on its eastern slopes. To the east, the valley opens onto the broad expanse of short-grass-dominated High Plains of eastern Wyoming. The character and location of the valley offered numerous advantages to aboriginal popu lations. From it, the faunal and floral resources of both the High Plains and local semi-montane environments are easily accessible. The relatively deep valley itself provides shelter from adverse elements, and winter temperatures average 10? warmer than on the adjacent plains. Water is currently available in the valley bottom in springs and seeps. Geologic evidence indicates that a permanent stream was once present and, as late as the 19th Century, an ephemeral stream flowed through the valley. Tertiary deposits in the Hell Gap Valley and in other nearby outcrops contain beds and nodules of excellent quartzite and chert. Aboriginal use of these materials and