Stone tools and animal bones are all that remain to tell the story of Lamb Spring—and it is a noteworthy tale, beginning some 8,000 years ago at a sheltered gully near the base of the Rockies, southwest of present-day Denver. Here, for many centuries, ancient hunters trapped bison, mammoth, deer, and other big game. They killed their prey with spears and carved up the meat with flint knives. And here’s a thought: These Ice Age people might have been the first Coloradans in history.

Without question, they were among the first; the site dates at least as far back as 5,500 B.C. But some evidence suggests that Lamb Spring was inhabited as long ago as 11,500 B.C., which would place it among the oldest known human habitations in all of North America. The property therefore may lead to new understandings about when and how people migrated to this continent.

It will take much further study to find the truth about Lamb Spring. To ensure that such investigations can take place, an organization called the Archaeological Conservancy purchased the site to keep suburban sprawl from overtaking the property. (Douglas County plans to take possession of Lamb Spring in the near future and establish a museum there.) It’s no small irony that this, perhaps the oldest dwelling-place in Colorado, should lie side by side with the newest. But then, historic preservation strives for such juxtapositions—the peaceful coexistence of past and future, a sense of continuity between where we have been and where we are headed.