POLLEN ANALYSIS AT 5WL453: A WOODLAND SITE IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

Pollen analysis was undertaken at 5WL453 in an effort to provide both ethnobotanical and envirorunental information about the site. This site is located on a terrace above the Little Thompson River near Johnstown, Colorado. The site is estimated to be a Late Woodland camp site or habitation site (Bob Lawrence, personal communication, March 1980). Maize agriculture was being practiced farther east during the Woodland period (Wedel 1961; Wood 1967), so one of the main objectives of the pollen study was to ascertain whether or not maize pollen was present in the samples from this site. The stratigraphic profile taken at this site provides a pollen record which extends from the occupation of the site into later post-occupational periods. Examination of this pollen record provides environmental information about the site and possible changes through time.