News From The Field

December 14, 2007

	Alumnus Keith Shannon excavating in Kiva 706.
	Exposed portion of floor in Kiva 107.
	Axe on floor of Kiva 107.
	Large stone left by the residents of Kiva 107.
	Hearth and deflector exposed in Kiva 706.

The final two months (October and November) of the 2007 field season at Goodman Point Pueblo were so busy I’ve been unable to provide a field update until today! But this installment should give readers a pretty good idea of what we’ve been up to since the September report was posted.

During the first week of October, our final participant diggers helped finish numerous excavation units. Staff spent the following eight weeks, much of which was unseasonably warm and sunny, documenting and backfilling as many units as possible, and then winterizing the remaining pits. Most of our efforts were focused on midden units, which could be documented and backfilled relatively quickly, and on selected kivas that would have been difficult to effectively protect against element damage over the winter.

One of the kivas that we completed and backfilled was Kiva 107. Because this structure had been chosen for high-resolution 3D imaging, it received special excavation treatment. Instead of excavating only half of a 2-x-2-m pit to the kiva floor, we exposed the floor in the entire 2 x 2. We hope to use these images for a variety of research and education purposes.

Many artifacts were present on the floor of Kiva 107, and staff spent numerous hours painstakingly exposing, mapping, and collecting artifacts, as well as interpreting the depositional context of each. Nearly 100 artifacts and samples were collected from the floor, including a large, single-bitted axe, a metate, multiple manos, nonhuman bones, crushed partial vessels, and a huge triangular stone of unknown use that the residents had left leaning against the bench face. After contemplating the weight of this stone, the staff was happy to also leave it leaning against the bench face! The artifact assemblage on this kiva floor should provide valuable information about village and regional depopulation. For example, the presence of an unfired vessel on the floor could indicate an unplanned departure from the village.

Excavations in oversize Kiva 706 (in the D-shaped bi-wall block—see site map), were also completed, and the unit was backfilled just before the first major winter storm. In our test pit, the hearth and a portion of a coursed-masonry deflector were exposed. Flotation samples of the hearth fill should contain clues about the final events in this structure. Few artifacts were found on the portion of the floor within the test pit, but enormous quantities of artifacts were collected from roofing debris. These materials (primarily Mesa Verde Black-on-white pottery sherds, but also lithic debitage, nonhuman bones, ground-stone tools, a paint stone, two pendants, and a fragment of a probable square mug) were mixed with rotted roof beams and wall debris, and they appeared to have originated from both the roof of Kiva 706 itself and the floors and roofs of upper-story bi-wall rooms east and south of this kiva. Data derived from our excavation of this kiva will be crucial in drawing inferences about the uses of these bi-wall buildings at Pueblo sites.

A great deal of other work was also completed during these past two months; interested readers are encouraged to peruse our annual report for 2007, which will be available online soon after the first of the year. And although a substantial amount of documentation and backfilling has yet to be completed at Goodman Point Pueblo, the end of this field season marks the end of Phase I of the Goodman Point Archaeological Project, which is officially titled “Goodman Point Pueblo Excavations.” The members of the field staff would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributed to the success of our three years of research at Goodman Point Pueblo, including participants, interns, educators, seasonal help, and of course our partners—the Southeast Utah Group of the National Park Service. Phase I of our research would not have been possible without the efforts of all of these folks.

In spring 2008, Crow Canyon will begin Phase II of the Goodman Point Project, titled “Goodman Point Community Testing.” Over the next three years, excavations will be conducted at 15 smaller sites within the Goodman Point Unit. While I complete field documentation and begin analysis and write-up of Phase I, Grant Coffey will supervise Phase II excavations, and Susan Ryan and Steve Copeland will round out the field staff. So come join the team, and help us broaden our understanding of the history of this important ancient community!

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