Dr. Jason LaBelle is a professor of anthropology at Colorado State University. He is the director of a research lab called the Center for Mountain and Plains Archaeology, and serves as the curator of the Archaeological Repository at CSU. He specializes in the study of hunter-gatherers, specifically pre and post-contact Native American cultures of the Intermountain West. He and his students research the early peopling of the North American continent, including such topics high altitude and mountain archaeology, communal hunting, and lithic technology.

We talked about some of the incredible archaeological sites found throughout Colorado that help tell the stories of the first people in the Americas. These sites include ancient hunting grounds in high mountain passes and seasonal camps in the plains, the oldest evidence dating back to over 12,000 years ago. Dr. LaBelle’s research, and his ability to communicate it to a broader audience, opens a window to our shared past, connecting us to an ancient story of survival. It’s fascinating to speculate on the lives these people lived, and hard to imagine how they withstood it all.