First Americans in the Rockies and Sierra: Paleo-Indians 15,000 Years Ago

The earliest inhabitants of the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada were Paleo-Indians who crossed the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia 15,000–13,000 years ago.

They were nomadic big-game hunters tracking mammoths, mastodons, and giant sloths. As glaciers retreated, they moved south into the mountains, adapting to diverse elevations.

Key early sites:

• Folsom, NM (distinctive fluted points)
• Lindenmeier, CO (large campsite)
• Paisley Caves, OR (14,000-year-old coprolites)

Over millennia, they diversified into historic tribes: Apache, Navajo, Ute, Shoshone, Sioux, and many others, each with distinct cultures rooted in these landscapes.