A Prehistoric Meat Market In Modern Suburbia

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<p>(Ryan Warner/CPR News)</p>
<p>Historians hope to preserve a Douglas County field where relics of the late Ice Age have been found.</p>
Lamb Spring Relic
A kiosk displays a few of the many late Ice Age bones found at Lamb Spring.

Archaeologists have been working for decades to preserve a site near a natural spring in the Denver suburbs. Lamb Spring is so important to archaeologists because they believe that thousands of years ago it was a prehistoric meat market. From the Ice Age on, animals gathered at the spring to drink. Hungry humans followed to hunt the animals. And the bones and artifacts found at Lamb Spring indicate that over many centuries humans killed and also butchered animals there.

Lamb Spring People
State Archaeologist Holly Norton and Nathan Boyless, president of the Lamb Spring Archaelogical Preserve, study an Ice Age relic.

The Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve, with the support of the office of the Colorado state archaeologist and Douglas County, have saved the Lamb Spring site from any development. The preserve now hopes to build an interpretative facility and small museum at the spring so more visitors can learn about the Denver area's earliest inhabitants.

Lamb Spring Archaeological Preserve president Nathan Boyless and Colorado State Archeologist Holly Norton spoke with Colorado Matters host Ryan Warner at the preserve.