All Potted Up: Exploring Seasonality at Small Late Pueblo II and Early Pueblo III Sites at Petrified Forest National Park

Summary

Researchers have conducted archaeological investigations within the vicinity of what is now Petrified Forest National Park (PEFO) for over 100 years. Although the majority of archaeological sites identified at Petrified Forest National Park consist of small habitation sites that date to the late Pueblo II (1030-1125 AD) and early Pueblo III (1125-1225 AD) periods, archaeologists have gathered little information regarding the habitation practices of people during this transitional time period. Late PII and early PIII archaeological sites often only contain single room structures, ranging from coursed masonry dwellings, to pithouses and jacal structures. Archaeologists often refer to single room masonry structures as fieldhouses, but have conducted little research to substantiate this claim. Archaeologists conducting ongoing survey of nearly 100,000 acres of recently acquired lands surrounding PEFO have identified numerous small late PII and early PIII habitation sites. Since the introduction of modern excavation methods, which include flotation analysis, no small late PII/ early PIII sites have been excavated at the park. Analysis of paleobotanical samples from a complete vessel found eroding out of a single room structure at a late PII/ early PIII site provides insight into the habitation practices of people during a significant period of change.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Recent Archaeological Research in Petrified Forest National Park   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage