Who walked with the Columbian mammoth in Douglas County, Colorado, 13,000 years ago? The Ice Age was coming to an end and the climate was warming. The megafauna (mammoth, ancestral bison, three-toed sloth, sabre-toothed tiger, camel, and ancestral horse) were prey for Paleoindian humans. The weapons of choice were the spear and the atlatl (a spearthrower as pictured in the exhibit). As the environment changed, the large mammals gradually became extinct and, over time, the people adapted their weapons and methods of food procurement. Animal trails became trails for the humans duringtheir migrations following food and water sources. Populations grew and interactions with other groups of people brought new technologies. Shelters evolved from natural caves and rockshelters to shallow pit structures. The bow and arrow and pottery were introduced. The 11,500 years until contact with European explorers moved slowly but with continuing changes in the life of the people. This exhibit will show artifacts left behind by inhabitants of Douglas County, from the earliest occupations to the time when written records documented their presence. The Paleoinidian Period covers approximately 13,000 to 7500 years before present and includes Clovis, Folsom, and Plano people, each characterized by distinctive stone tools.