Lab News

Fragment of copper artifact from Albert Porter Pueblo. Photo by Erin Baxter.

A fresh break reveals the flash of smelted copper in the artifact from Albert Porter. There is an obvious “fold” or “crimp” in the metal. Copper artifacts are quite rare, so this is a real find.  Photo by Erin Baxter.

Copper bell in Chappell Collection. Courtesy of the Anasazi Heritage Center.

We’ve identified a copper artifact from Albert Porter Pueblo! The object is a fragment of a copper artifact, most likely a bell. It was recovered from a midden unit in the northeastern corner of the site, a location that appears to date to the A.D. 1100s. The bell was identified March 22 during analysis of Porter’s chipped-stone assemblage. The artifact itself is a little underwhelming perhaps. It consists of a very thin, dark green “sheet” of metal that is about the size of a dime. 

A recent study has identified 622 provenienced bells from 93 archaeological sites in the Southwest and northern Mexico (Vargas 1995). Only one was found in Colorado. This was discovered in 1960 by Clifford and Ruth Chappell near Block 600 in Shields Pueblo in the Goodman Point locality.  This bell is currently on display at the Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, Colorado.

Copper smelting and lost-wax molding techniques used to make the bells began in Mexico around A.D. 800. Over time, the bells made their way north to “distribution centers,” where they were traded even further afield. One of these distribution centers was Chaco Canyon. Excavations in Pueblo Bonito in the A.D.1800s unearthed a variety of artifacts of Mesoamerican origin: these included macaws, anthropomorphic effigy forms on pottery, and numerous copper bells. Several explanations exist to explain the presence of these ritually significant artifacts: (1) through widespread trading from Mexico; (2) through small trading groups from the Southwest to Mexico that could have returned with these objects; or (3) through a small organized force from Mexico that could have entered the Southwest and influenced the local populace. 

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One of our research questions for Albert Porter Pueblo is the degree to which that site participated in the so-called “Chaco Phenomenon” during the A.D. 1000s and 1100s. The tangible hallmarks of this set of social and ritual traditions include relatively large public structures or monuments called “great houses” and “great kivas.” Certain types of pottery, macaw remains and feathers, turquoise, and copper bells are also considered Chacoan calling cards and may have been exported from Chaco Canyon itself. Our small, but intriguing, find suggests the connection that the occupants of Albert Porter Pueblo had with the larger Pueblo world during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. 

 

Reference Cited:

1995     Vargas, Victoria D.  Copper Bell Trade Patterns in the Prehispanic U.S. Southwest and Northwest Mexico. Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series 187.