Basketmaker Communities Project Research Questions

During the three years of fieldwork that are planned for the Basketmaker Communities Project (2011–2014), Crow Canyon will continue its long-term research into community development in the central Mesa Verde region. Two of the most basic questions we hope to answer through our investigations are, When did Pueblo communities first form in the region, and What was the nature of the community that surrounded and included the Dillard site?

Specifically, our research will focus on several important questions:

Where did the people who settled in the Mesa Verde region during the Basketmaker III period come from?

How much of the rapid expansion of settlement in the Mesa Verde region during the Basketmaker III period was due to immigration? How much to in situ population growth?

How did ancestral Pueblo people make the transition from a foraging society organized around kinship to an agricultural society organized around community institutions?

What was the nature of Basketmaker III communities in the Mesa Verde region, and how do those early communities compare with communities that developed later during the Pueblo I, II, and III periods?

Does the extensive cluster of pithouses surrounding the Dillard site reflect occupation by a large number of families over a short period of time or a small number of families over a long period of time?

Does variation in pithouse size and elaboration reflect variation in social ranking, household size, or household activities?