People

The Paleo-Indian period is the era from the end of the Pleistocene (the last Ice Age) to about 9,000 years ago (7000 BC), during which the first people migrated to North and South America. This period is seen through a glass darkly: Paleo-Indian sites are few and scattered, and the material from...

Chief Left Hand (1820s–64) was a prominent Arapaho leader in the mid-1800s, a tumultuous period in Colorado history that followed the 1858 discovery of gold near present-day Denver , on the traditional lands of the Arapaho and Cheyenne . Diplomat, negotiator, linguist, and fluent English speaker,...

Juan Antonio María de Rivera (1738–?) was a Spaniard and the first Euro-American to intensively explore the territory that eventually became the state of Colorado. In 1765 he made two trips into western Colorado from New Mexico, traveling as far as the Gunnison River in Delta County . Along the way...

Tree-ring dating is formally known as “dendrochronology” (literally, the study of tree time). It is the science of assigning calendar-year dates to the growth rings of trees, and Colorado figures prominently in its development and application in archaeology and other disciplines. Uses...

Ghost Dances are key ceremonies within a broader Native American religious movement that developed in the late nineteenth century in response to the westward expansion of whites. By that time, most Colorado tribes lived on reservations outside of the state. The dances are performed to activate the...

Willard Frank “Bill” Libby (1908–80) was a native Coloradan who won the Nobel Prize for inventing the radiocarbon dating method. Radiocarbon dating is one of the most commonly used dating techniques by archaeologists and other scientists across the world. Willard Libby was born in Grand...

As a pioneering woman in a field dominated by men, Hannah Marie Wormington (1914–94) carved a scholarly niche for herself on the frontiers of American archaeology. She was a larger-than-life figure whose impact went far beyond the dozens of publications she produced to include mentorship for many...

The Tenth Mountain Division (hereafter, the Tenth), was US Army division created in 1941. The Allies took notice of a Finnish division of soldiers on skis that defeated and embarrassed a larger and better-equipped invading Soviet force during the Winter War of 1939. Inspired by Finland’s success,...

The Koshare Scouts is primarily made up of Boy Scout troop 2230 in La Junta , Otero County , that has studied Native American lore and performed tribal rituals since the 1930s. This imitative white group is part of a long American history of “playing Indian.” In the twentieth century, groups like...