Indian Mountain Site (Site ID: 5BL876)  The Indian Mountain Site (Site ID: 5BL876) is an archaeological site near Lyons, Colorado. Site 5Bl876 is a multi-component Plains Woodland encampment consisting of several stone rings. Ten stone circles have been found. Thus far, only four rings have been completely excavated. Two rings have been sampled. Importance  This site holds the earliest and westernmost known occurrence of Plains pottery in Colorado. This indicates that either some form of contact or intrusion with Woodland people from the east likely occurred. Location  The Indian Mountain Site is located along a hogback near Lyons, Colorado. The site is situated in Boulder County, Colorado in a transition zone between the plains and the mountains. This positioning provides the site with vegetation consisting of mostly grass, yucca, and prickly pear cactus. Excavation  The Indian Mountain Site was excavated by a group of high school students enrolled in a five-month archaeological field school. The students were participating with the District of Boulder County, CO in an event associated with the 1983 Colorado Archaeological Awareness Year. When examining the Indian Mountain site, the site was divided into three areas based off spatial separation. Area 1 is the largest, as it contains seven rings. Area 2 contains one ring, which is elevated above the others. Area 3 is in the extreme southeast portion of the site, which consists of two rings. Material Culture  Circular stone features were found in the site. These stones could have served many different functions, yet the most common function was the use of circular stones to anchor the perimeters of habitation structures. This is a common Colorado feature, particularly in the plains and foothills. Several artifacts were also found throughout the site. In Ring 1, charcoal flecks and two fragmentary deer-sized long bones were uncovered. Also, high concentrations of tiny pebbles were found, which suggest that a living room was located above Ring 1. Ring 3 consisted of a central hearth with rocks and charcoal. Inside Ring 4, two small pottery pieces were uncovered. Reassembled these pieces formed a single sherd roughly the size of a thumbnail. Most of the artifacts uncovered at the site were found in close proximity to Rings 4 and 5. These included flakes, a projectile point tip, and a snub-nosed scraper with spokeshave/drawknife concavities on both lateral edges. Throughout the entire site, a total of 60 flakes, one fragmentary projectile point, one fragmentary biface, a whole scraper/spokeshave, and a small ceramic sherd were discovered during excavations.