Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

During 1988 and 1989, archeologists from the Western Archeological and Conservation Center conducted data recovery excavations at Puerco Ruin, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Puerco Ruin is the remains of a 100-plus-room pueblo dating to the late Pueblo III to middle Pueblo IV periods. The data recovery, conducted to mitigate the effects of proposed visitor facilities at the site, included surface collection, excavation, and analysis. In addition, over 1,000 rock art elements...

Although Petrified Forest National Park was set aside as a natural park, it is an archeological gold mine, with over 300 sites recorded in the southern half alone. The sites exhibit an unbroken culture history sequence from the Archaic period until shortly before the arrival of Europeans in that part of the Southwest. They contain information about the change from hunting and gathering to agriculture, relationships between the environment and settlement pattern, relationships between major...

This volume combines reports from two projects conducted at Petrified Forest National Park in 1987. Part I deals with project PEFO 87A which is the test excavation and surface collection at AZ Q:1:101(ASM), a lithic scatter adjacent to Puerco Ruin. Part II reports on project PEFO 87B which is the third season of the park boundary survey. Part I -PEFO 87 A. From April 20 to May 1, 1987, prior to realignment of the park's Mainline Road (Pkg. No. 140, Phase IV), AZ Q:1:101(ASM) was tested...

During 1989 and 1990, small-scale excavations were conducted at Sivu'ovi (AZ Q:1 :114 [ASM]), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Sivu'ovi is a large (12-acre) Basketmaker II site that includes the remains of over 45 pit structures. Also within the site boundary, but not tested as part of the current fieldwork, are several small field houses that date to a later Pueblo period occupation. The site contains an abundance of artifacts on the surface, including Adamana Brown pottery,...

Archeological work conducted during the summers of 1985 and 1986 produced much new data which was badly needed to update our perceptions of Petrified Forest prehistory. A total of 120 sites along the park boundaries and in the developed areas were recorded, many of them for the first time. Surveys to fulfill compliance requirements prior to installation of a new water system (NPS Package No. Ill) and developed area surveys provided data on prehistoric land use and settlement patterns in...

This report presents the results of several archeological projects conducted at Petrified Forest National Park between the fall of 1988 and the spring of 1992. Projects include survey of large areas of the park, salvage of two eroding burials, collection of a basket, and initiation of a program of archeological site monitoring. Although preliminary information about these projects is on file at the Western Archeological and Conservation Center in Tucson, this report compiles the results and...

FIVE reports in one volume. 1. Dating Adamana Brown Ware Radiocarbon dating at five Basketmaker II period sites provide the first chronometric determinations for Adamana Brown ware, considered the earliest pottery on the Colorado Plateau. The radiocarbon dates indicate that production of the pottery began between A.D. 1 and A.D. 200 and possibly as early as 400 B.C. The pottery enjoyed long-lived use, possibly produced as late as A.D. 600. 2. Adamana Brown Ware Radiography Study Among...

During Phase I of the project to reconstruct the Mainline Road (Pkg. 140) at Petrified Forest National Park, a two-component site, AZ Q:1:42, will be disturbed. To mitigate the impacts of the project, staff from the Western Archeological and Conservation Center conducted data recovery in August 1983. The site included four loci, two dated to the Basketmaker III period (A.D. 700 to A.D. 775) and two dated tentatively to the Pueblo II and Early Pueblo III periods (A.D. 950 to A.D. 1150). A large...

The fourth and final season of the Petrified Forest National Park Boundary Survey was conducted from June 27 to July 15, 1988. Twenty-one miles of quarter-mile-wide corridor were surveyed along the northern and western edges of the Painted Desert. Additional survey was conducted in various localities throughout the park including Pilot Rock, Mountain Lion Mesa and a ridge system southeast of Agate House. Intensive rock art recording at Mountain Lion Mesa was undertaken upon completion of...

Part I of this report documents work done during Phase III of the project to reconstruct the Mainline Road (Pkg.140) at Petrified Forest National Park. Three sites (AZ K:13:13, AZ K:13:19, and AZ Q:1:58) will be disturbed. A small campsite with a hearth and a small habitation site with a midden, disturbed by road construction during the 1930s, were occupied between A.D. 1175 and A.D. 1250, revealed no features and appeared to be entirely deflated. Design and formal analyses of ceramic...

This report documents recent stabilization work at Puerco Ruin, Petrified Forest National Park. The work was completed in three phases over four years. Phase I was the detailed topographic mapping of the 100-plus room pueblo in 2002, followed by Phase II, the condition assessment of standing masonry walls by Dr. James Kendrick in 2003. Phase III was the 2005 wall treatment. Each wall was treated with un-amended mud mortar as needed and loose stones were reset. Pre-treatment as well as...

The Spirit of the Wilderness Archeological Survey in Petrified Forest National Park was a three year long cultural resources inventory of more than 9,000 acres of the Petrified Forest National Park wilderness begun in July, 2003 and concluded in June of 2005. Identification and recording of previously undocumented sites was conducted in four separate field sessions, each lasting for three or four weeks. In total, 6,735 acres were surveyed in the Rainbow Forest Wilderness Area. In the Painted...

During August 1992, the National Park Service conducted archeological test excavations at McCreery pueblo, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. McCreery Pueblo is a late Pueblo II-early Pueblo III site consisting of a small masonry room block, a great kiva, a trash mound, and nine other features. Over 65 m2 were excavated at the site. Recovered were 5,128 sherds, 3,332 flaked-stone artifacts, 18 hammerstones, 15 ground-stone artifacts, and 18 ornaments. Numerous floral and faunal...

WACC reports on survey and excavation projects within the boundaries of the Petrified Forest National Park.