News From The Field

July 31, 2009

July has been a very busy month at Crow Canyon. Thanks to the efforts of more than 50 students enrolled in our three-week High School Field School and one-week High School Archaeology Camp, as well as several family groups who participated in Family Archaeology Week, we have made great progress in our excavations at the Goodman Point Unit. Throughout the month, the excavations at Goodman Point focused on two sites: Rain Ridge and the Harlan Great Kiva site.

High School Archaeology Camp students excavating inside the great kiva at the Harlan Great Kiva site.

Excavations at Rain Ridge were conducted in multiple midden units, as well as in test pits located along the north walls of several roomblocks. The artifacts recovered so far indicate an early-to-mid Pueblo III occupation of the site. Several projectile points were recovered from one midden unit, and initial impressions of the architecture uncovered suggest that at least one of the four roomblocks at the site was dismantled and its building materials recycled to build later structures, probably during the Pueblo III period. This phenomenon is similar to that documented at Lupine Ridge and Pinyon Place (see the January 21, 2009, field update).

High school student excavating in the southern berm at the Harlan Great Kiva site.

Continued excavations at the Harlan Great Kiva site revealed the presence of at least two masonry surface rooms framing the great kiva, one to the north and one to the east. The room on the east side of the great kiva, in the berm area, appears to have been built in sediment that was probably removed during the construction of the great kiva, evidence that the room was built later.

Excavation in the southern berm also revealed the presence of sediment removed during the construction of the great kiva, but in this case the sediment is layered with midden deposits. An azurite ball and several beads were recovered from the southern berm, which reinforces the interpretation that important social and/or ritual activity took place at the site.

Excavating in the masonry surface room north of the great kiva.

In the months ahead, we'll be branching out to other sites in the Goodman Point Unit, in addition to continuing work at the Harlan Great Kiva site. With cooler temperatures, late summer and early fall are great times to be in the field, and there are still plenty of discoveries to be made. So come join us for a research program in beautiful southwestern Colorado!

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