Unearthed: Ancient Life in the Boulder Valley

Hidden for thousands of years and discovered by chance in a Boulder backyard, the Mahaffy Cache offers a remarkable glimpse into ancient technology and innovation. Unearthed explores how people living here around 13,000 years ago crafted sophisticated stone tools, traveled across vast landscapes and adapted to the challenges of life in Ice-Age Colorado.

 

 

a birds-eye view of the location near the Flatiron Mountain's in Boulder where the cache was found

 

A Stunning Find in Boulder's Backyard
Discovered by chance in a Boulder backyard in 2008, the Mahaffy Cache contains more than 80 stone tools buried about 13,000 years ago. Found less than a mile from the CU Boulder campus, this remarkable Ice-Age toolkit offers a glimpse into some of the earliest human history in North America.

several ancient tools made of stone are arranged on a wooden table



Tools, Innovation, & the People Who Used Them
The Mahaffy Cache contains a range of carefully crafted stone tools that helped people navigate life in the ancient Front Range. From cutting tools and scrapers to blades and stone prepared for making new tools, the collection reveals the skill, ingenuity and adaptability of people living here thousands of years ago.

A map showing where the stone used to make the tools came from.



Stones that Traveled: From Quarry to Cache
Stone used to create the Mahaffy Cache tools came from across the Rocky Mountain region, including areas of Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. These far-traveled materials reveal a remarkable prehistoric network and show how people navigated vast landscapes in search of game, seasonal resources and high-quality stone for making tools.