Archaeological discoveries at Corral Bluffs

Considerable archeological finds were made at the adjacent Jimmy Camp Creek and archeologists suspect similar artifacts exist at Corral Bluffs. A team from UCCS found prehistoric ceramics, chipped stone artifacts and groundstone, and buried fire pit features with a radiocarbon date of ca. AD 665 at Jimmy Camp Creek.

In 2008, El Paso County Parks Department did a brief archaeological survey of a portion of Corral Bluffs. County's archaeology study PDF

They found one archaeologic site on the edge of the northern escarpment of Corral Bluffs, which they suggest be tested for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places and avoided by trails. The bison bones and stone tools found at the archaeological site suggest a bison kill and butchering site.

The archaeologist and staff found 4 occurrences of cultural material on an east-facing slope just west of a dried up lake:
1.) a mineralized long bone,
2.) a fragment of pink sandstone with one ground surface,
3.) a chert flake with one of the long edges retouched, and
4.) an ironstone sherd from a vessel possibly used by an uninvestigated cowboy range camp possibly located further south on the ridge from where the sherd was found.

Buffalo jump

Larger side-notched and corner-notched projectile points from the Archaic period (6200 B.C. to 200 A.D.) have been recovered from Corral Bluffs.

The County experts say there's the potential for Paleoindian (40,000 - 6200 B.C.) occupation and projectile points based on finds at Jimmy Camp Creek, where significant cultural materials have been found dating from the Paleoindian through historic periods. Ceramics from the Late Prehistoric Period (200 - 1540 A.D.) have also been found at Jimmy Camp Creek.

Paleoindian preform found near Jimmy Camp Creek

County experts spent 3 days on site to conduct a Class 1 survey and recommend either a complete Class III survey of the entire property with surveyors walking no more than 30 feet apart, or an archaeological survey of where trails and boundary fences would be built. Either option to be in consultation with the State Historic Preservation Office and the Colorado State Archaeologist.

If this land becomes publicly-held, as we hope, its archaeological resources will be protected by Colorado Revised Statue 24-80-401-410, the Historic, Prehistoric, and Archaeological Resources Act.