Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports, DAP-004: Excavations at Sheep Skull Camp (Site 5MT2202), a multiple occupation site.

Sheep Skull Camp (Site 5MT2202) is a prehistoric limited activity locus located in the Sagehen Flats Locality, Escalante Sector, southwestern Colorado. The site is located on a hilltop overlooking the Sagehen Flats Marsh to the south. For purposes of intensive investigation, the site was divided into three sampling strata based on distribution of surface artifacts. Sixty-five test squares were then selected, via a stratified random sampling design, and excavated; backhoe tests, a magnetometer survey, and blading were also conducted at the site after preliminary investigations had been completed. Results of this extensive subsurface sampling were largely negative, although one rock-outlined hearth was encountered approximately 10-15 em below surface (by the blading program) and artifacts were found in loose surficial in some of the test pits. There appears little likelihood that significant undisturbed subsurface deposits exist at the site.

On the basis of the differential distribution of surface artifactual material, three areas of prehistoric activity were defined; analysis of artifact composition suggests some differences in activities among the three areas. In general, the site appears to have functioned primarily as a resource procurement and processing locus, rather than as a habitation or storage site.