5MT 17271 is a late Pueblo II-Pueblo III (AD 1000-1300) habitation situated on the mesa top that was surveyed by the 2003 Colorado College Field Archaeology Class. Lightning Tree Canyon is approximately 300 m to the south. The site consists of a roomblock, a tower, a kiva, and a midden, and covers about a third of an acre. The roomblock itself is L-shaped and represented by a rubble mound, but it seems likely it once contained about 20 rooms. A circular rubble pile southeast of the kiva is what is interpreted as a tower that may once have stood approximately 5 m tall. The kiva appears to have been looted prior to mesa top chaining in the 60's.

A fire ring and pile of cans, one of which may date to the early 20th century, is located northwest of the roomblock, and is probably a campsite that has seen use for the better part of a century. It may have been used by the party/ies that looted the kiva.

Click here for a map of the site.

Click here for a data table from the site.

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