An Ice Age Encampment at Rainbow Forest

An Ice Age Encampment at Rainbow Forest. . , In the valley below, a group of highly mobile Native Americans set up their base camp next to a modest playa lake some 13,000 years ago. From this temporary encampment, they refurbished their stone tool kits and restocked their food supply and other wares. The playa provided freshwater for drinking, cooking, and other domestic needs, but also attracted an array of local and seasonal wildlife. During the Late Pleistocene, near the end of the last Ice Age, when the northern reaches of the North American continent were buried under thick sheets of glacial ice, the Petrified Forest area was substantially cooler and wetter than it is today., Cottonwood and willow trees flourished beside flowing rivers and playa lakes, providing fuel for the people's fires and structural supports for their portable, hide-covered dwellings. Similar to today, the grasslands of Rainbow Forest attracted wildlife like coyotes, prairie dogs, jackrabbits, and pronghorn as well as songbirds, raptors, and waterfowl. However, the Late Pleistocene of Petrified Forest was also home to large mammals, including prehistoric horses, camels, bison, and mammoths. These early human inhabitants of Petrified Forest were masterful foragers, hunters, and trappers possessing an intimate knowledge of the many plant and animal species they relied upon for survival., Caption: , Beyond freshwater and abundant game animals, people have been drawn to this area for its ample outcropping of fossilized (that is, petrified) wood - a durable and colorful raw material used in the creation of their tools.