Repository logo

Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collection

https://hdl.handle.net/10217/100327

Browse

Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Subject "'Folsom Man' scrapbook"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    The Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin Lindenmeier collection: an innovative method for analysis of privately held artifact collections and new information on a Folsom campsite in northern Colorado
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2002) Gantt, Erik M., author; Todd, Larry, advisor; Van Buren, Mary, committee member; Albright, John, 1937-, committee member
    The Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin Lindenmeier collection contains 1,125 pieces, 1,122 of which are chipped stone artifacts, collected from the Lindenmeier Folsom campsite between 1924 and the mid 1950s. A. Lynn Coffin, Judge Claude C. Coffin, and C. K. Collins are credited with discovering Lindenmeier adding historical significance to this collection. Furthermore, the size of the Coffin family assemblage from Lindenmeier is significant in comparison to the other known artifacts from the site curated by the Smithsonian and the Fort Collins Museum. The Coffin family assemblage from Lindenmeier more than three times as large as that held by the Fort Collins Museum (n=333) (Ambler 1999), more than four times that collected by the Denver Museum of Natural History (n=278) (Cotter 1978), and a significant portion of the number of diagnostic artifacts held by the Smithsonian (Wilmsen and Roberts 1978). Included with the collection is the 'Folsom Man' scrapbook compiled by Judge Claude C. Coffin. This scrapbook contains a wealth of unpublished information on the history of the initiation of professional investigations at the site. The scrapbook is summarized and many of the letter[s] and photographs contained within are presented here. Access to the Claude C. and A. Lynn Coffin materials is highly controlled, because of the stewardship concern for preserving the integrity of the artifacts, and has necessitated a new recording methodology to record basic information about the collection. In response to this need, an image based computer measurement method using the SigmaScan Pro 5.0 image analysis program was developed. This is presented here along with an assessment of the validity and comparability of the methodology. It is shown that the image and computer based method, which allows rapid initial photographic data collection, is valid and comparable to that of a caliper based measurement method. The results from the computer based method are also shown to have a high degree of internal consistency and to be comparable with measurements from analyses on other collections from the site. The results from the documentation of this important assemblage are then compared to and combined with the data from the Major Roy G. Coffin collection, housed at the Fort Collins Museum, and the Smithsonian collection from the site. General trends of donation behavior on the part of the Coffin family are discussed, and comparisons are drawn between relative frequencies of artifact types represented in the Coffin family collection and the Smithsonian collections. Information on post-Folsom occupations at the site is amended based on artifact types.