Archeological Survey and Testing at Petrified Forest National Park, 1987

Summary

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 to determine significance of the artifact scatter and its

relationship to Puerco Ruin. A fifty percent surface collection of the

entire site was made and test units were placed within the proposed

right-of-way. Ninety-four percent of the surface collection was chipped

stone, most of it petrified wood. A few ceramics dating to the

occupation of Puerco Ruin were collected and a single mana fragment was noted.

The site, AZ Q:l:101 (ASM) , is a petrified wood quarry and chipped

stone reduction locus. Although probably used throughout the

prehistoric occupation of Petrified Forest, the site appears to have

been used most intensively during the occupation of Puerco Ruin, A.D.

1100 to 1200 and A.D. 1300 to 1400.

Part II-PEFO 87B. The third season of boundary survey at Petrified

Forest was undertaken from July 6 to July 24, 1987. The survey along

the 91 miles of fenceline surrounding the park was initiated in 1985 to

provide data for management, planning and interpretation as well as to

better afford archeological sites protection from vandalism.

Eighty-two archeological sites and 62 isolated finds were recorded

thin the 28.25 linear miles of quarter-mile-wide corridor surveyed

(4,520 acres). Survey was conducted along the western boundary south of the Puerco River, in the vicinity of Lithodendron Wash and northeast of

park headquarters. Sites were dated by the architecture and diagnostic

artifacts found on the surface. Archaic through Pueblo IV occcupation

was found in the survey area with the most substantial occupation

occurring during the Pueblo II to Pueblo III periods. Fourteen rock art

sites were recorded this season. It is postulated that the boundary of

Petrified Forest National Park lets us view a real boundary between

badlands and habitable grasslands. Selenite tempered pottery suggests

local ceramic production. A summary of site condition is included for

management.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona   •
• WACC documents 1980-1989   •
• Arizona

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: -1000 to 1450

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contributor(s): Don D. Christensen

File Information