Ancient home has answers underground, by Pam Boyd, Vail CO, Colorado

EAGLE COUNTY — One of the oldest archaeological sites ever unearthed in Colorado was discovered on a sagebrush plateau in northern Eagle County 20 years ago this summer. A crew from Eagle-based Metcalf Archaeological Consultants discovered the Yarmony Pit House — a 6,000 year old, well preserved artifact treasure trove in the ranch country north of State Bridge.

It was the find of a lifetime. Evidence collected at the site shows that Yarmony was inhabited thousands of years before the Anasazi — Colorado’s famed “ancient ones” — built their dwellings at Mesa Verde. People were residing at Yarmony thousands of years before the pyramids were built in Egypt or the boulders were placed at Stonehenge.

“Yarmony has kind of become the gold standard by which you measure pit house discoveries,” says Michael Selle, White River Field Office archaeologist for the U. S. Bureau of Land Management. …

Early on, the crew knew Yarmony was special. Their excavation uncovered evidence of a prehistoric pit house — a dwelling space dug into the ground, with dirt walls, and a dirt- and brush-covered log roof supported by poles set into the ground. A hole in the center of the roof provided access into the dwelling, as well as ventilation for the fire inside.

Read it all: http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20070618/NEWS/70618018