POLLEN, MACROFLORAL, AND COPROLITE ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES FROM THE BLUFF GREAT HOUSE SITE, 42SA22674, SOUTHEAST UTAH

Summary

The Bluff Great House, site 42SA22674, is located along the San Juan River in

southeast Utah. This site is a Chacoan Great House occupied during the Pueblo II (Chaco era)

and Pueblo III (post-Chaco) periods. The Bluff Great House Site originally was excavated by

the Universlty of Colorado's field school from 1996-1998, with on-going additional excavations.

This site has several Chacoan settlement characteristics, including a multi-storied Great House

surrounded by an earthen berm/trash midden, a Great Kiva, and a prehistoric road through the

center of the site. The West, Middle, and East kivas within the Great House did not have

Chaco-style pilasters, however. These pilasters are typical of northern San Juan-style.

Ceramic analysis also suggests that much of the trash found in the Great House rooms and

trash used in construction of the berm is post-Chacoan.

Pollen, macrofloral, and/or botanic samples were recovered from areas within the Great

House, from four intramural kivas, from the Great Kiva, and areas of berm/midden around the

Great House. Within the Great House, areas sampled include the front (south) wall and a use

surface in front of it (TU 70), a complex area in the southeastern section of the Great House

that experienced heavy remodeling (Architectural Unit 71), two of the rear, multi-story rooms

(Features 2 and 56), a room in the newly discovered Single-story row of rooms at the rear of the

Great House (Feature 58), the West Kiva, the Middle Kiva, the East Kiva, and the Northeast

Kiva. Pollen and macrofloral analyses are used to provide information concerning plant

resources utilized by the occupants of the site. Coprolites in post-Chaco trash from Feature 58

and Architectural Unit 71 were examined for pollen, starches, phytoliths, macrofloral remains,

and parasites.

The walls and pilasters of the West and East Kivas were covered with thick, white

plaster. The West Kiva had a band of red painted along the base of the wall, while the East

Kiva had a bird (possibly a macaw) motif painted in red on the pilaster. Individual layers of

plaster from both the West and East Kivas were examined for pollen to identify differences in

pollen content of these layers that might represent either season of plaster application or

ceremonial use of pollen mixed with the plaster. In addition, these samples were examined to

assess the potential for continued pollen analysis of plaster. The pollen record might identify

probable locations where materials were collected, season of plastering, and/or mixing plant

remains or pollen with the plaster for application to the walls and benches.

Samples from the Great Kiva floor, the West Antechamber of the Great Kiva, and the

North Antechamber of the Great Kiva also were submitted for pollen, macrofloral, and/or

botanic identification. In 2004, charred material from floor of the Great Kiva and from two

subfloor features in the North Antechamber of the Great Kiva was identified and submitted for

AMS radiocarbon analysis. These samples yielded conventional radiocarbon ages of 783 ± 36

BP, 790 ± 38 BP, and 828 ± 38 BP.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• PaleoResearch Institute

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