The area of Crow Creek examined for this report shows a prehistoric occupation from Middle Plains Archaic through Late Prehistoric times. The hypothesized settlement pattern is that the Laramie Mountain range was used in the warm seasons and the lower elevations were occupied in the cooler seasons, using Crow Creek as a travel corridor between the two. In the mountains, the scheduling of seasonal movements is determined by the periodicity of mountain resources (Wright et al. 1980). This is due to the fact that similar biotic communities at different elevations will exhibit differences in the time of plant flowering and seed ripening, due to the delayed growing season at higher elevations. Migratory mammals also frequently move to higher elevations in the summer months, and this also affects the movements of people utilizing the animals. These are some of the factors important in the timing of the movement of people using the plains-mountain transition zone.

Reher and Harrell (1983:122) suggested that prehistoric settlement in southeast Wyoming was concentrated along stream valleys and scarp zones. This is consistent with the summary discussion of 48LA277, which considered the use of the drainages as travel corridors between the mountains and the plains. Reher and Harrell (1983:122) found that in southeastern Wyoming, in the areas of the North Platte and Niobara rivers and Lodgepole and Horse creeks:
 

The area along Crow Creek examined for this report is certainly consistent with this description of a dense site concentration along the creek bluffs. The faunal and macrobotanical samples from 48LA277 suggest that it was the biodiversity present in the riparian habitat that attracted people to the stream valleys. Reher and Harrell (1983) argue that given the homogeneity of the grassland biome, the diversity of both plant and animal resources found in stream valleys was extremely important to the prehistoric population. 

The macrobotanical material at 48LA277 suggests that the site was occupied in the late summer or fall of the year. Given the hypothesized settlement round, this would suggest that the site was occupied by people moving out of the mountains, moving to lower elevations for the winter. Because of the frequent severity of the winters in the western Central Plains, they would need to rely on stored food for at least part of most winters. 

The bone-grease processing features found at 48LA277 suggest one method of food storage. This could represent food stores for the winter. It could also represent a food-storage method to allow hunters to travel through the grasslands to find the animal herds that would represent a winter food supply. In either case, this method of food storage is an important component of the relationship of humans to the environment, for without some form of food storage, it would be impossible to exploit the grassland biome.

Lithic raw-material assemblages found during the ETSI pipeline survey suggested that settlement was mainly along one water course (Reher and Harrell 1983:124). The raw-material assemblage differed significantly among the Niobrara River, Horse Creek, and Lodgepole Creek drainages. This is consistent with the homogenous character of the assemblages along the Crow Creek drainage, which appears to differ from that described for the other drainages. 

Reher and Harrell (1983) argue that the settlement pattern described above is more or less consistent through time due to the consistency of the general subsistence system. The Crow Creek sites examined contain material from Middle Plains Archaic cultures through Late Prehistoric cultures, supporting stability in the settlement pattern through these time periods. Within this general pattern, however, there appear variations within the settlement pattern due to technological innovations that change the balance between the environment and the human population exploiting it. The fired-rock roasting basin, while known in the Early Plains Archaic, becomes common in sites during the Middle Plains Archaic. This is a technological innovation that represents a drastic change in prehistoric food-storage techniques. Middle Plains Archaic sites are the earliest common sites, and in many areas the earliest sites, represented in the prehistoric record. This fact may be correlated with the innovation in food storage.

The indications of bone-grease production may also mark the introduction of pemmican production (Reeves 1990). Pemmican is a very efficient method of storing surplus food, and this source of stored food was probably partly responsible for basic changes in the social structure of centralized hunting, leading to the changes seen in the Plains cultures in Late Plains Archaic and Late Prehistoric times (Reeves 1990). Reher and Harrell (1983) point out that the short-grass biome is extremely variable. Dependable food-storage techniques would be very important for increasing the carrying capacity of this environment for the human population.

Ceramic technology is another innovation that logically could reflect how people relate to their environment. Certainly, the adoption of a ceramic technology is often correlated with a reduction in mobility. In a highly mobile lifestyle, the weight and the fragility of ceramics would suggest they are less efficient containers than those made of hide or basketry. There is little indication at the Crow Creek sites of a long-term occupation. Rather, the assemblages are consistent with multiple short-term occupations, suggesting that the adoption of ceramics did not result from the containers' functional assets. Duke (1991), however, points out that ceramics play a role in the social negotiations among a site's inhabitants that belie a strictly ecological approach. These concepts are worth exploring in the context of the adoption of ceramics in the Crow Creek area, as a functional explanation is not fully satisfying.

The adoption of the bow and arrow, seen archeologically in the use of smaller projectile points, is a technological innovation that again appears to affect the relationship of humans with the environment. Throughout the High Plains, increases in the density of sites and radiocarbon dates after the introduction of the bow and arrow appear to reflect a greater human population in the area (Frison 1991:111). While there are suggestions of climatic oscillations that may have increased the carrying capacity of the area, certainly the bow and arrow increased the human capability to exploit the available resources.

The prehistoric occupation of the western Central Plains, reflected in the prehistory of Crow Creek, exhibits a complex mixture of both stability and change. Human populations in this area never developed a "complex society," but the factors responsible for both stability and change within a hunter-gatherer adaptation are extremely important for us in understanding the human relationship with the environment. It is important both for understanding the human past and for understanding our relationship with the environment today.

Much of the Crow Creek drainage examined during the 1992 field season was subjected to mechanized earthmoving that destroyed the potential of many areas for subsurface remains. The top of the Pleistocene terrace in this area has almost no Holocene soil development. These two factors limit the areas that would be productive for further research.

The soil layer in which the prehistoric material at 48LA277 is found appears to be widespread and to exist on both sides of Crow Creek (Appendix A). Test pits where this soil is located may well find additional subsurface materials.

Of the sites examined other than 48LA277, 48LA247 appears to have the most potential to contribute to our knowledge of the prehistory of the area. URS Berger located a buried Early to Middle Archaic horizon here. This is a time period about which relatively little is known, and more information would increase our understanding of the dynamics of these prehistoric cultures. As suggested above, further work at this site could include block excavations to examine activity areas around the hearths located by URS Berger.

URS Berger also located a number of sites along Crow Creek to the east of 48LA277. In this area, site 48LA245 appears to have a potentially strong research potential. In working with the archeological records from the Peacekeeper Program, the author recommends that further work on any of these sites be initiated with the examination of the URS Berger field notes. In all cases on the sites examined, the URS Berger field notes were thorough and accurate. In several cases, however, the Tetra Tech (1987) report was less thorough than the field notes and occasionally omitted significant details.