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The picture on the left shows the outline of a building. The picture on the right shows some construction details. What were these buildings? Who lived there? When did they live there? What did they do? How did they live? There are lots of questions, but how does one find the answers? This web site may help you sort through some of the detail, but it does not answer all the questions. |
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(Click on an image to see a larger version of the picture, and then use your browser's back button to return to this page.)
Who/what may be able to help us answer these questions?
Archeology is the "study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of cultural and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, bio facts, human remains, and landscapes". Clearly training in this field is of considerable benefit. Assuming that we have archeological input, let's start to answer some questions.
When was it built?
This is one of the first questions the archeologist will ask. There are two principal ways of doing this. One is radio carbon dating, the other is dendrochronology or tree-ring dating. Finally, any new site can be compared with other known sites. Then comparisons can be made between tools, building methods and materials, pottery, weaponry, human/animals remains, etc. found during excavation.
Radio carbon dating has been used since the 1950s and is accurate to about +/- 30 years if the material is less than 3000 years old. The materials discussed on this web site are all more recent than that. Dendrochronology was pioneered in the 1920s. Where wood is preserved naturally for many years, as it is in the Four Corners Region, it has been possible to examine tree growth by observing the rings and comparing these to known samples which have been established for the region. The resulting accuracy is better than +/- 5 years. In the photo to the right above, original timbers are clearly visible.
You can obtain more detailed information on the first two topics by clicking on the links for Radio Carbon Dating and Dendrochronology.
If you already know about dendrochronology you might wish to try your hand at working out the date of a sample. Slide down this web page until you come to "Lab1: Dendroclimatology". Then in the third paragraph click on the link "crossdating tree rings". Then select "10. Finding the Dates". When you have read the instructions click on "you try skeleton plotting for yourself". This is a really good page and well worth doing. Enjoy!
Kiva
Before going further it is necessary to ensure that the word Kiva is understood. This was, and still is, the religious/ceremonial centre of Pueblo life. Ceremonies are directed by leaders or priests who have memorized the necessary complex rituals. These kivas were below ground level and were accessed through a hole in the roof. The sipofene or sipapu is the symbolic hole to the underworld. Babies are born from the underworld to live in the upper world. When they eventually die they return to the under world where they are born again. The cycle thus continues and is clearly a very important part of the Pueblo life. The two pictures below show some of the details. Note that the stone work on the picture on the left looks much neater than that on the right. You may also notice other differences.
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Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado
This is a very large park, which joins onto Ute Mountain Tribal Park, the total area occupying some 400 square miles. There are numerous Pueblo sites on both properties dating from about A.D. 500 to A.D. 1300. The park includes more than 4000 archeological sites, of which about 600 are cliff dwellings. Much of the park is elevated at the top of the "green table", i.e. Mesa Verde. Below are shown three pictures of the park.
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Click for additional photos of Mesa Verde.
Hovenweep National Monument, Utah
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Hovenweep is a canyon with a small spring at the head of it. There is little actual space to grow crops and hence there can have been few residents. However, there are numerous different building designs, possibly by different clans. Perhaps it was a retreat for priests. Evidence of jimsonweed (Datura, a narcotic) was found by pollen analysis. |
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Click for additional photos of Hovenweep.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park, New Mexico
Chaco is huge and spectacular. This is one of the larger sections of the park, and shows its development over the period it flourished. The masonry, for the most part, is quite different here to the previous two sites. Were these the same people, but with different backgrounds? Archeologists think they are probably quite different, perhaps controlling local clans of a differing population. Were these people from Mexico? Unfortunately you will not find these questions answered here! Hopefully, as archeology matures a clearer picture will emerge. This group of people are referred to as "Chacoans". One thing is clear though and that is the Chacoan constructions were planned from the beginning - the original layout allowed spaces for the later additions. |
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Click for additional photos of Chaco.
Salmon and Aztec Ruins, New Mexico
These two areas were probably Chacoan towns, started in about 1068 and completed by 1150 when suddenly all the people left these areas. Why did they leave?
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Click for additional photos of Aztec and Salmon Ruins.
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