News From The Field

September 22, 2006
During the past month at Goodman Point Pueblo, our numerous adult participants—novices and alums alike—helped us make significant progress in several architectural blocks. For example, we reached the floors of Kiva 405, Kiva 501, Room 604, and Structure 702. In several other kivas, deflectors have been exposed, indicating that we are nearing the floors of those structures. We also completed numerous midden units, exposed sections of the north walls of Blocks 600 and 700, and collected numerous tree-ring samples from various kivas. To augment our rather sparse refuse assemblages from Blocks 100, 300, and 800, we’ve added several new units to sample the midden in those areas.

We’ve made great progress in the bi-wall structure in Block 1200, which is just west of the great kiva (see map). We’re working in Kiva 1204—the westernmost of the four kivas within that bi-wall structure. The fill of this kiva has yielded many charred tree-ring samples, and we’ll soon begin excavations in Room 1207, a bi-wall room adjacent to this kiva. We will be looking for similarities and differences between this room and other bi-wall rooms we’re testing in Blocks 700 and 1100.

The most interesting artifact found recently is a faceted cylinder of hematite that was recovered from the collapsed wall debris along the north wall of Block 700. Similar objects from other sites have been called “paint stones” (because of their inferred use as sources of mineral pigment) and “medicine stones” (because of similarities to objects used historically to aid in deer hunts).

One of the most exciting developments in recent weeks follows from a discovery we first reported in last month’s field update. As we were getting ready to excavate in Block 700, located on the north rim of the canyon, we made the tentative observation that the large, multistory building in the northern part of the block appeared to have a D-shaped, bi-wall layout (see August 21, 2006, entry). Since then, we’ve created a more detailed map of the architectural plan, and this map confirms what we had suspected from our cursory examination. The “D” is formed by a single row and arc of long, narrow rooms and is oriented with the flat side of the “D” to the south and to the canyon rim. The space within the “D” contains at least three structures: one oversize kiva and possibly an associated corner room occupy the eastern half of this space; the western half appears to contain two smaller kivas.

Many characteristics of the D-shaped building in Block 700 are similar to those seen in Block 1500 at Sand Canyon Pueblo, Site 5MT765 (see Sand Canyon site map and block map), including the bi-wall layout, the division of the interior space by a north-south wall, the presence of multiple kivas within the interior space, the orientation of the “D” with the flat side generally to the south, the location of this building northeast of the great kiva at each site, and even the number of rooms that form the arc of the “D” (seven). These two buildings are also similar in overall size—we estimate that the flat side of the “D” at Goodman Point Pueblo is only 3 m longer than that at Sand Canyon Pueblo. The plan of both blocks is reminiscent of Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo Bonito: all three are of the same general D-shape, and their interior spaces are divided north-south down the center. However, the D-shaped building in Block 700 at Goodman Point is even more similar to Pueblo Bonito—it is slightly lopsided to the northwest and even appears to have a similar “jog,” or offset, in the center of its south wall.

The discovery of these architectural details of Block 700 is really exciting, and we’re just beginning to think about the implications of the similarities between the D-shaped buildings at Goodman Point and Sand Canyon pueblos in terms of the social, political, and economic relationships between these neighboring communities. Studying the relationships between the two communities is a stated goal of our current research project (see the Goodman Point research design), and the discovery of the architectural details of Block 700 provides us with an unanticipated and concrete link between the two. I wouldn’t be surprised if, during excavations in Block 700, we discover additional similarities between the D-shaped buildings at the two sites. We hope that architectural and refuse data from Block 700 will illuminate the significance of the layout of this block and the purposes for which it was constructed. We’ll also explore the possible ancestral connections between the Goodman Point villagers and the residents of Chaco Canyon, which is another stated goal of our research project.

The end of our participant digging season nears—the fall is passing quickly. Even so, a lot of dirt will be moved during the final weeks of the 2006 season. Next year will be our third and final season at this remarkable site, and I hope that many of you will be able to come help us get the most out of the time we have left to learn about the “life and times” of the Goodman Point villagers!

Kristin Kuckelman, Senior Research Archaeologist, Project Director, Goodman Point Pueblo Excavation