News From The Field

January 21, 2009

Corner of partly dismantled room, Pinyon Place. Click on image for enlarged, labeled photo.

 

Exposed portion of partly dismantled room, Lupine Ridge. Click on image for enlarged, labeled photo.

In my last update, back in September, I promised to provide a wrap-up of the 2008 field season once we finished closing excavation units and weatherizing the sites for the winter. It was a labor-intensive effort that involved not just the field crew, but also lab researchers, educators, and various other staff and volunteers. In addition to documenting and backfilling units at small sites tested in 2008, the group also assisted in wrapping up some final business at the big village, Goodman Point Pueblo, where Crow Canyon had conducted the first phase of its investigation from 2005 to 2007. Our work was finally finished on December 12, shortly before a series of massive winter storms hit the area, burying the Goodman Point Unit and all of southwestern Colorado under several feet of snow! I want to thank everyone who endured the cold, wet, and wind to help—many hands made a tough job a little easier.

So, looking back, what were the highlights of the year? For starters, 2008 marked the first year of Phase II of the Goodman Point Archaeological Project—an important milestone because it was our first opportunity to investigate some of the smaller sites surrounding Goodman Point Pueblo. Test excavations were initiated at seven sites, with the assistance of 494 participants in our research and education programs. Participants ranged from middle school students in school group programs, to teens enrolled in summer camps, to adults who spent their vacations assisting in our adult research programs. Thank you, one and all! You troweled, “bucketed,” and screened dirt from 108 test units, contributing to our understanding of Pueblo history and culture in the Mesa Verde region. 

Specific highlights of the 2008 field season include the following:

• Through our test excavations in the Harlan great kiva (see structure map), we discovered that this structure is probably smaller than we originally thought—that is, the main chamber appears to be about 13 to 14 m in diameter, rather than 22 to 24 m. This could have important implications concerning the age, construction, and use of this important structure—a smaller, roofed great kiva likely would have been built earlier, and used differently, than the larger, unroofed great kiva at Goodman Point Pueblo.
• The discovery of numerous Cortez Black-on-white and Mancos Gray pottery sherds in test units in the Harlan great kiva suggests a substantial early Pueblo II component at the Goodman Point Unit, likely dating from the late A.D. 900s or early 1000s. How this fits into the overall history of the Goodman Point community—and how the great kiva relates to other nearby structures—will be an important focus of future research.
• The excavation of numerous structures that appeared to have been largely dismantled in ancient times provided evidence of construction sequence and recycling within the Goodman Point Unit. In several test units in roomblocks, very little building stone was uncovered, which might suggest material reuse through time, with later pueblos being constructed of stone salvaged from earlier pueblos.
• The preliminary observation at two sites—Lupine Ridge and Pinyon Place—that early, small, dismantled roomblocks appear to outnumber later, larger, intact roomblocks by at least two to one began to give us a sense of community development and organization. If this pattern is validated through further research, it would suggest that, through time, numerous smaller roomblocks were replaced with fewer, but larger, roomblocks at these two sites. This in turn will help us understand when and why the population began aggregating (gathering in a smaller area) in the Goodman Point community and how this phenomenon might relate to broader regional trends.
• Staff researchers collaborated with outside consultants in the production of a three-dimensional animation of an excavation unit and a series of three-dimensional models of Goodman Point Pueblo. These realistic “virtual” reconstructions allow viewers to experience the site in ways that simple maps and photographs do not.

So what’s next? Right now, I’m writing the 2008 fieldwork report, to be submitted to the National Park Service and posted on Crow Canyon’s Web site. The report will provide a more complete and detailed summary of the 2008 excavations, including descriptions of specific excavation units and structures. After that, we’ll be gearing up for the 2009 field season, which will begin in late March and include test excavations at several new habitation and special-use sites. Hope to see you this summer!

Grant Coffey, Supervisory Archaeologist, Director of Goodman Point Archaeological Project Phase II