The Goodman Point Archaeological Project

"The Goodman Point Archaeological Project: Community Center and Cultural Landscape Study" is part of Crow Canyon's long-term research into the ancient Pueblo Indian communities of the Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado.

Conducted in partnership with the Southeast Utah Group of the National Park Service, the project is a multiyear investigation of selected ancestral Pueblo sites located within the Goodman Point Unit of Hovenweep National Monument.

The first phase of the project, titled "Goodman Point Pueblo Excavations," focused on test excavations at Goodman Point Pueblo (Site 5MT604), the large village that served as the center of an extensive community during the mid– to late A.D. 1200s. Phase I excavations began in 2005 and continued through the 2008 field season.

The second phase of the study, "Goodman Point Community Testing," began in 2008 and will be completed in 2010. This phase involves test excavations at several smaller sites surrounding the large village, sites that likely were part of the greater Goodman Point community. They include habitation sites, ancient roadways, and possible Pueblo agricultural fields.

What do we hope to learn from our investigation? As detailed in the project research design, our primary goals are to reconstruct the occupational histories of Goodman Point Pueblo and the surrounding smaller sites and to develop a better understanding of thirteenth-century community development and dynamics in the Mesa Verde region. Among the specific research questions we hope to answer are the following:

• When was Goodman Point Pueblo built and how long was it occupied?
• What was the relationship between this large pueblo and nearby surrounding sites and adjacent communities?
• How sustainable was the Pueblo adaptation to the environment?
• How did Pueblo use of the landscape change through time?
• What can sites in the Goodman Point Unit tell us about the regional migration that occurred during the late A.D. 1200s?