[Chelsea]
Weather: sunny, warm, temperature in the upper 80s.
Working times: 10:00am-11:45am-powerpoint presentation on Animas-La Plata project
1:30pm -3:30pm site tour of Sacred Ridge

[Katie]
Today we didn't go out in the field. Instead we went to the Animas-La Plata river dam project near Durango. They are excavating this entire valley entirely because the archaeological sites in it will be destroyed by the water. The valley mostly contains late Basketmaker III/PI habitation sites. There are mostly pitstructures at the site, and a possible PI tower structure, which, by the way, is unheard of so early. This project has been going on for four years, and they are ending their excavations in one week. Before they had excavated, Fort Lewis College had conducted a dig in the 60's and did a pretty shoddy job. They didn't record what they found very well and were practically pot hunting.

[Chelsea]
80 sites, mostly Pueblo I hamlets containing pitstructures and little surface structures have been found in Animas-La Plata. There are radiocarbon dates for early Basketmaker sites, a 250 year hiatus, and then around 700 A.D. a repopulation of the area. Where are these people coming from and how are they organizing themselves over the landscape? This is one of the main questions for the excavators….There is a historic ranching landscape that involved creating a number of canals from the La Plata river system. But besides that, the area is unoccupied after 809 A.D. (latest cutting date using tree ring dating of Animas La Plata) until the Ute Indians come through. The upper Animas is abandoned earlier than 809 A.D. (cutting dates at 760 A.D. in upper Animas). The latest date in the whole Animas region is 839 A.D. [amended by Becky]

Weather stations are utilized in the field to measure environmental variations from season to season but also long-term climate variation. The best areas to grow corn have been determined to have a northern aspect-above cold air drainages. The best soils are along the southern end of the basin with a northern aspect, although habitation is on the southern end of the basin.

The pitstructures uncovered on average have [about 30 square meters floor area]. Around 800 A.D. smaller pitstructures (around 6m in diameter) begin to be abandoned and larger pitstructures (around 9m in diameter) occur. A remodeling event occurs as well at this time as a pitstructure is de-roofed and the poles removed with a floor built over the pitstructure. A slab-lined addition is made to this structure and the original pitstructure becomes an entrance to the new structure. scan here

An archaeologist in the 1960's mounded up adobe into a pile. Once contemporary archaeologists excavated beneath this pile they discovered 4 large post-holes surrounded by a series of smaller post holes which were all surrounded by a small basin. Massive adobe in association with a tightly spaced structure. Since none of the other surface rooms have post-holes that are this large it is suggested these post-holes are meant to support a multi-story structure made of wattle and daub. Its high position on a hill might possibly suggest it is a community symbol-such as a symbol of power/authority. It is suggested the structure at the very least had a function beyond the domestic level. The possible PI tower is situated next to a nicely plastered floor feature. This feature has more square meter area than any other surface structure on site. Could this area have been some sort of open plaza area?

The possible PI tower, as an archaeologist from Crow Canyon pointed out, wouldn't be put next to a ritual space such as a plaza and not have some important meaning. Ruth Van Dyke pointed out that Pueblo I may have been a time of experimentation in how to create communities. The possible PI tower may have been such an exercise in community building as architecture may have been utilized to enhance the idea of similarity and difference within a community.

[Tucker]
Another very interesting feature at this site was the possible PI tower on top of Sacred Ridge. It consisted of 4 large post-holes in a 2m x 2m square surrounded by 15 smaller post-holes and one hearth in the middle.

Before excavation it consisted of a large pile of burnt adobe, actual amount not known because of previous pot-hunting.

Why was it here? Was it really a 2 story 4m tower? From the top of the tower you could have seen all the PI villages in the basin, but through GIS testing they found that it didn't actually improve your viewing of the area all that much as opposed to just standing on the ridge top. tucker tower pic