Woods Canyon Pueblo

Life on the Edge

Acknowledgments

The publication of this work was made possible in part by a State Historical Fund grant from the Colorado Historical Society, whose support of Crow Canyon's efforts to share archaeology with the general public is greatly appreciated. The authors also wish to thank the Crow Canyon Board of Trustees for their sustained backing of all our endeavors, the education advisory committee for its guidance and feedback on our educational publications, and members of the Native American advisory committee who contributed both ideas and considerable material to this work. Special thanks, too, to copy editor Jane Kepp, who corrected our grammar and greatly improved the flow of text.

A number of illustrations used in this publication have been borrowed, with permission, from various outside agencies and individuals. The two line drawings of a Pueblo boy and girl appear courtesy of the Anasazi Heritage Center, Dolores, Colorado. Local architect and artist Charles "Pete" Peterson drew the reconstruction of the rim complex at Woods Canyon Pueblo, which gives the reader a much greater sense of the dramatic physical setting of this ancient village. Although some photographs in this publication are from the Crow Canyon archive, others were generously provided by the following individuals: Walter Bigbee (Virgie Bigbee, San Juan Pueblo buffalo dancer, ancient wall at Woods Canyon Pueblo, north rim of Woods Canyon, and Pueblo elder and his grandson stringing chiles); Michael Doolittle (students looking over the edge of Woods Canyon, students in the kiva at Mesa Verde National Park, painted pottery sherd, students next to wall at Woods Canyon Pueblo, and student screening for artifacts); Richard Davis (summer rainstorm); and Ramson Lomatewama (photograph of himself). Ramson also granted us permission to reprint his beautiful poem, "After the Rains." The excerpt from Houses on Country Roads, by Ian (Sandy) Thompson, is reprinted courtesy of the Durango Herald.

Many thanks to the Crow Canyon staff members who contributed in myriad ways to this publication. Melissa Churchill, the archaeologist in charge of the Woods Canyon project, took us on field trips to the site and provided us with information and insights about what was learned during the excavation and subsequent lab analysis. Dan Ihnot created the graphics that embellish the discussions of natural resources, farming, and water. Paul Ermigiotti drew the picture of towers in the discussion of defense, as well as the picture of pottery vessels in Melissa Churchill's discussion of water. Together, Dan and Paul also created the farming, defense, natural resources, water, and beauty icons used to move between the various "theories." The landscape of Ute Mountain in the section entitled "Beauty" was provided by Rebecca Hammond, and the map showing the locations of modern pueblos was drafted by Andrea Parkes. Mary Etzkorn provided editorial assistance, and Louise Schmidlap and Ginnie Dunlop, our in-house Web experts, fine-tuned the electronic presentation. Ginnie also created many of the computer graphics. As always, a special thank you to all our fellow teachers in the education department—Scott Campbell, Elaine Davis, Paul Ermigiotti, Rebecca Hammond, Dan Ihnot, and Lew Matis—for their critical review, thoughtful insights, and general camaraderie.

And, finally, we would be remiss if we did not thank the many student and adult participants in Crow Canyon's programs—people of all ages and backgrounds who assisted in the excavation of Woods Canyon Pueblo and who through their tuition and memberships support the Center in its work. The publication of this work would not have been possible without them.
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