The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the prehistoric people of Colorado, which covers the period of when Native Americans lived in Colorado prior to contact with the Domínguez–Escalante expedition in 1776. People's lifestyles included nomadic hunter-gathering, semi-permanent village dwelling, and residing in pueblos.

Periods and peoples

Paleo-Indian Paleo-Indian period – the first people who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period. Evidence suggests big-game hunters crossed the Bering Strait from Asia into North America over a land and ice bridge (Beringia), that existed between 45,000 BCE – 12,000 BCE,"Atlas of the Human Journey-The Genographic Project." National Geographic Society. 1996-2008. following herds of large herbivores far into Alaska.Viegas, Jennifer. "First Americans Endured 20,000-Year Layover." Discovery News. Pre-Clovis – Paleo-Indian hunting, before the use of Clovis points.Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. . Lamb Spring in Littleton, with mammoth bones dated 14,140 to 12,140 years ago and hunting by use of stone tools other than Clovis points, is an example. Other examples include Dutton and Selby in the far eastern edge of Colorado. Clovis culture – the oldest Paleo-Indian division, marked by the use of Clovis points, the first fluted projectile points used in North America. Dent, Dutton the Drake Clovis Cache site are examples of Clovis sites in Colorado. The Dent site was the first site to provide evidence that men and mammoth co-existed and that man hunted mammoth. Folsom tradition – as megafauna, like the mammoth, became extinct man adapted by hunting smaller animals with the smaller Folsom projectile point. Examples are the Lindenmeier site, dated 10,600 to 10,720 B.P. and the Jones-Miller Bison Kill Sites. Plano cultures Cody complex – a Plano culture that used unfluted projectile points and other tools like the Folsom and Clovis cultures from about 9,000 to 7,000 B.C. Olsen-Chubbuck Bison Kill Site, Jurgens Site and Lamb Spring are Cody complex sites. Goshen complex / Plainview complex – at the Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site. Hell Gap complex – Plano culture from 10,060 to 9,600 before present (estimated 8,050 to 7,590 B.C.), distinguished by the long stemmed, convex, and unfluted Hell Gap points. Jones-Miller Bison Kill Site is the only Hell Gap location in Colorado. Other Paleo-Indian sites – Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Picture Canyon, Phillips-Williams Fork Reservoir Site and Roxborough State Park Archaeological District.

Archaic period Archaic period – people hunted small game, such as deer, antelope, and rabbits, and gathered wild plants. They moved seasonally to hunting and gathering sites. Late in the Archaic period, about 200-500 A.D., maize was introduced into the diet and pottery-making became an occupation for storing and caring food.Kipfer, Barbara Ann. (2000). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology. New York:Plenum Publisher. p. 341. . Apex complex – a Middle Archaic period was dated from about 3000 to 500 BC and first appeared in the Magic Mountain site near Apex Creek.Gunnerson, James H. (1987). Archaeology of the High Plains. Denver: United States Forest Service. Archaic–Early Basketmaker period – cultural period from 7000 - 1500 BC of ancestors to the Ancient Pueblo People, who used baskets to gather and store wild seeds, grasses, nuts and fruit. They moved seasonally to gather food and hunt, using spears with small projectile points, atlatl and darts and lived in simple dwellings.Archaic: 5500 to 500 B.C.- Overview. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. 2011. Retrieved 10-18-2011.Time-Life Book Editors. (1993) The First Americans. Alexandria, Virginia: Time-Life Books. pp. 29, 30. .Archaic-Early Basketmaker Period. Chaco Culture National Historical Park, National Park Service. Retrieved 10-15-2011. Archaic: 5500 to 500 B.C. - Housing Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Peoples of the Mesa Verde Region. 2011. Retrieved 10-17-2011. Mount Albion complex – early Archaic culture (4050 to 3050 BC), distinguished by the Mount Albion corner-notched projectile. Examples are: LoDaisKa site, Magic Mountain site, and Franktown Cave. Oshara tradition – was an Archaic culture dated from 5,440 B.C. to A.D. 460 that is believed to be a predecessor to the Basketmaker culture of the Ancient Pueblo People. Six phases spanned a period from early Archaic period to the introduction of cultivation and pottery.Stiger, Mark. (2008). Hunter-Gather Archaeology of the Colorado High Country. Boulder: The University Press of Colorado. pp. 28-29. .

Post-Archaic period Post-Archaic, hunter and gathers Apishapa culture – prehistoric culture from A.D. 1000–1400, named for an archaeological site in the Lower Apishapa canyon in Colorado.Gibbon, Guy E.; Ames, Kenneth M. (1998) Archaeology of Prehistoric Native America: An Encyclopedia. . At least 68 Apishapa sites have been identified on the Chaquaqua Plateau in southeastern Colorado. Some sites where Apishapa archaeological evidence has been found include Franktown Cave, Picture Canyon and Trinchera Cave Archeological District. Dismal River culture – first seen in the Dismal River area of Nebraska. Dated between 1650 and 1750 A.D., it is different than other precontact Central Plains and Woodland traditions of the western Plains.The Dismal River Culture. . Nebraska Studies. Retrieved November 26, 2011. Some Colorado sites include Cedar Point Village and Franktown Cave Panhandle culture – of the southern High Plains dated about AD 1200-1400 and primarily located in the panhandle and west central Oklahoma and the northern half of the Texas Panhandle. Distinguishing characteristics of the Panhandle culture are: great similarity to the Central Plains complexes; some evidence of trading or influence of Southwestern Ancestral Pueblo peoples; and single or multi-roomed stone structures. For Colorado sites, see Trinchera Cave Archeological District as well as the Apishapa culture and Sopris phase articles. Plains Woodland or Ceramic period – The Woodland period, or Early Ceramic period, began in the Plains about AD 0 with the defining distinction of the creation of cordwrapped pottery, development of settlement areas, and use of smaller projectile points for hunting smaller game and/or bow and arrow technology. Sites include Colorado Millennial Site, Franktown Cave, LoDaisKa site, Magic Mountain site, Picture Canyon, and Roxborough State Park Archaeological District Sopris phase – dated about AD 1000-1250 was first found in southeastern Colorado, near the present town of Trinidad. Although the culture appeared to have been greatly influenced by pueblo people, such as the Taos Pueblo and trade in the Upper Rio Grande, the Sopris culture was generally a hunter-gatherer tradition. See Trinchera Cave Archeological District Another Post-Archaic site is the Chimney Rock National Monument. Post-Archaic, Puebloan people Ancestral Pueblo peoples – ancient to protohistoric Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northern Arizona, northwest New Mexico, and southern Colorado. Basketmaker culture – American southwestern culture of the Ancient Pueblo People, dated about 1500 BC to AD 500, named for the large number of baskets found at archaeological sites. This group was preceded by the Archaic–Early Basketmaker period, Durango Rock Shelters Archeology Site and followed by the Pueblo I period. Basketmaker sites include Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, Hovenweep National Monument and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe site 5MT10525. Pueblo culture – began AD 500 with the Pueblo I period when people lived in pueblo structures and realized an evolution in architecture, artistic expression, and water conservation. Pueblo periods continued through to the contemporary Pueblo V period. There are many Pueblo sites in southwestern Colorado, most notably: Canyon of the Ancients, Hovenweep National Monument, Mesa Verde National Park, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe portion of the Mesa Verde Region. Tipi ring period – a late Post-Archaic period when tipi rings were found, signifying habitation of nomadic hunters. This period continued into the protohistoric and historic periods. Evidence of the Apishapa culture disappeared after AD 1400, followed by sites with tipi rings. See Picture Canyon, which has evidence of both Apishapa and Tipi ring periods.

Culture in prehistoric Colorado

Paleolithic lifestyle – a hunter-gatherer distinguished by their nomadic lifestyle and use of stone tools. Pueblo culture – village life typified by the development of communities centered upon agriculture, pottery and trade.

See also the cultures under the Paleo-Indian, Archaic and Post-Archaic period sections above.

Art Rock art – human-made carvings or paintings markings made on natural stone, including petroglyphs and pictographs. See Cañon Pintado, Colorado Millennial Site, Dinosaur National Monument, Hawkins Preserve, Hovenweep National Monument, Mantle's Cave, Mesa Verde National Park, Picture Canyon, Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Solar calendar – a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the Earth on its revolution around the Sun, including passage of the seasons by the summer and winter equinox. See Hovenweep National Monument and Picture Canyon.

Clothing and personal adornment

Blankets – turkey feathers, yucca fibers and rabbit fur were woven into blankets. Hides were likely also used as blankets for warmth.Wenger, Gilbert R. (1991) . The Story of Mesa Verde National Park. Mesa Verde Museum Association, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado. pp. 33-37. . Clothing – little evidence of clothing, aside from a few loin-cloths found at archaeological sites. Cradleboards – made from yucca, twigs and rabbit fur.Ancestral Puebloan Chronology (teaching aid). Mesa Verde National Park, National Park Service. Retrieved 10-16-2011. Hairstyles – based upon burial remains, men of the Basketmaker culture sometimes wore fancy hairstyles and it's hypothesized that women generally wore their hair cut short.Man of the San Juan Valley: The Basketmakers. Aztec Ruins National Monument, National Park Service. Retrieved 10-16-2011. Jewelry – both men and women of the Basketmaker culture wore necklaces, bracelets and pendants made of shell, stone, bone and dried berries. Shells, such as abalone, conus and olivella from the coast of the Pacific Ocean, would have been obtained through trade. Robes – turkey feathers were woven into robes. Sandals – made of woven yucca fibers or strips of leaves.

Diet

Cultivation – maize, squash, beans were cultivated by Ancient Pueblo People and some hunter-gatherers. Cultivation required at least some seasonal residency at the cultivation site for planting and harvesting. Paleolithic diet – diet of hunter-gatherers, reliant upon seasonal attainment of wild plants and animals.

Dwellings

Adobe dwellings – building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material (sticks, straw, and/or manure). Crude lean-tos – shelters made of poles covered with brush and/or hides and having a roof with a single slope. Rock shelters – cave-like opening in a bluff or cliff, which may have construction of walls for protection from the elements. Pit-houses – dwellings built partially below ground, covered with poles, brush, earth and/or hides. Tipis – cone-shaped shelters made of wooden poles covered with animal skins.