A Place Where People and Now-Extinct Animals Lived

Pikes Peak Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society’s May 2024 event.

Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve: A Place Where People and Now-Extinct Animals Lived 10,000–15,000 Years Ago presentation with Jack C. Warner, Long-Time Volunteer at Lamb Spring

Located in ranch country southwest of Littleton, Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve is one of Colorado’s most important Paleo-Indian archaeological sites.

Excavated several times between 1960 and 1997, it contained artifacts from repeated human use from the Cody complex, a Paleo-Indian culture group, through modern times.

Artifacts indicate people hunted and camped around the spring for the past 9,000 years and possibly much longer.

The site contains spear points and bison bones that are the remains of a hunt that took place at the spring sometime between 9,000 and 8,400 years ago.

In addition, this site contains one of the largest concentrations of Columbian mammoth bones ever found—over 30 individuals in a relatively small area near the ancient spring.

Some of the mammoth bones show signs of human butchering.

One bone has been dated at 15,693 years ago, making this one of the oldest Paleo-Indian sites ever documented in Colorado.

Bones of other extinct species found here include Ice Age camels, horses, sloths, llamas, and wolves.

Join us to learn why Lamb Spring is an important contribution to the archaeological record.

Jack C. Warner is a lifelong student of the archaeology and anthropology of early humans.

Warner is experienced in archaeological fieldwork and regularly gives talks and tours relating to Colorado prehistoric archaeology, including Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve.

He is a past president of the Colorado Archaeological Society and is the archaeology lead for the Ken-Caryl Ranch Historical Society.

Warner is author of the book Eagles and Lions of Land and Sea, which documents the places in the world he has found the most interesting.

He received his MS from Cornell University and MBA from the University of Michigan.

Special Note: Members of the Pikes Peak Chapter/CAS can join a field trip to Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve later in May. You must be a member of PPC/CAS to attend Field Trips.