National and State Register

Darkmold Site

La Plata County

This multi-component site was occupied as early as circa 220 BC through AD 750.  Excavation has revealed several bell-shaped pits and slab-lined roasting pits.

Six arrowheads on a blue background.

Darkmold Site 

The site has the potential to provide a better understanding of the transition from foraging to farming, the eventual adoption of pottery, the shift in settlement patterns, and architectural diversity.  It is one of the few sites in southwestern Colorado that reflects a Late Archaic / Basketmaker II occupation.