Prior to professional archeological digs, the area was known as Apex, or the Apex Gulch site after the historic town of Apex. For many years people searched and looted this and other sites for Native American arrow heads, beads, and other artifacts. In 1959 and 1960, two archeologists from Harvard University set up digs near the Lyons Sandstone rock outcrop on the north side of Apex Gulch. At that time the land was owned by the company that was building the Magic Mountain theme amusement park. The archeologists, in acknowledgement to the company, called the site “Magic Mountain”. (4) The digs in 1994 and 1996 were on the south side of Apex Gulch on city land plus a dig on the privately owned land with approval by owners near the Lyons Sandstone rock outcrop.
In 2000, the city purchased the 5.5 acres on the north side of Apex Gulch and recent digs in 2017 and 2018 occurred on the expanded area now called “Magic Mountain Open Space”. For non-archeologists, the area south of Apex Gulch has reverted back to its historical name and it is now part of the relatively new Apex Open Space Trailhead.
The 2017 and 2018 digs were done by the Paleocultural Research Group, a non-profit organization in conjunction with staff from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. (5)
The new digs incorporated modern technology. In preparation for the dig. In 2016 archeologists used a magnetometer to go across part of the acreage. The researchers identified 61, one-meter dig sites. The purpose of the new digs was to investigate the Early Ceramic Period (200 -1000 CE) to include “mobility patterns, seasonal use, and site activities”.
Researchers found over 500 stone tools including 72 corner-notched arrow points or arrow point fragments. Only eight pottery sherds were recovered, all likely from the Early Ceramic Period. (6)
Given the amount of “small cutting tools, ground stone tools, cores and arrow points” … “All of this, combined with the lack of visible architectural features (with one possible exception), indicate that the Early Ceramic occupations at Magic Mountain were primarily task-focused rather than seasonally residential”. (7)
The people were using particular raw stones from South Park and Southern Front Range which indicates places they were traveling. Magic Mountain was a place they lived for some part of the year shaping stones into arrow points and other tools which were used to hunt deer and small mammals.
The other important feature of the archeological project in 2017 and 2018 was the incorporation of citizen science into the project. This included use of youth interns working at the dig site, public engagement through guided tours, hands-on opportunities for family members to experience actual fieldwork, public presentations and regular online updates.
