Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports, DAP-085: Excavations in Area 3, Grass Mesa Village (Site 5MT23), 1979 and 1980, a Pueblo I habitation

Author(s): Cory D. Breternitz

Year: 1984

Summary

Excavations conducted in Area 3 of Grass Mesa Village (Site 5MT23) included a probability sample and intensive excavations of roomblock and pithouse subareas. Excavated roomblock and pithouses span the Periman and Grass Mesa Subphases of the McPhee Phase. Historic looting and rodent disturbance had da maged much of the roomblock subarea, preventing detailed description and interpretation. However, at least two major construction episodes are represent ed by small, probably jacal, rooms overlain by later rooms with masonry-footed walls. Neither of these construction episodes can be dated. Other building episodes may have occurred through this time period, but disturbance has been too great to define specific rooms or stratigraphic relationships.

Portions of four pithouses were excavated, three in the center and one at the southern edge of the area. Pithouse 3 is a large subrectangular structure that was extensively remodeled. A tree-ring date of A.D. 856r from a burned timber in the ventilator may mark the construction date of Pithouse 3. Ceramic types associated with the latest floor in Pithouse 3 suggest abandonment after A.D. 875. Two smaller rectangular pithouses (Pithouses 1 and 5) were dug partially into the fill of Pithouse 3. They appear to have been occupied simultaneously and may have been functionally complementary; both were abandoned before A.D. 910. Pithouse 8, located at the southern edge of the area, was partially excavated and associated ceramics indicate that it was abandoned sometime between A.D. 860 and 910.

Cite this Record

Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports, DAP-085: Excavations in Area 3, Grass Mesa Village (Site 5MT23), 1979 and 1980, a Pueblo I habitation. Cory D. Breternitz. Dolores Archaeological Program Technical Reports. Salt Lake City, Utah: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Region. 1984 ( tDAR id: 398467) ; doi:10.6067/XCV89G5QF5

URL: http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/blm/co/field_offices/ahc/dap_documents.Par....


Keywords

Culture
Anasazi

Material
Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Fauna • Macrobotanical • Pollen

Site Name
5MT23

Site Type
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Room Block / Compound / Pueblo • Wattle & Daub (Jacal) Structure

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation • Site Evaluation / Testing

General
Abajo Red-on-orange • Bluff Black-on-red • Chapin Black-on-white • Chapin Gray • Cortez Black-on-white • Deadmans Black-on-red • Early Pueblo Gray • Early Pueblo Red • Early Pueblo White • Flaked Lithics • Kayenta Black-on-White • Late Pueblo Gray • Late Pueblo Red • Late Pueblo White • Mancos Gray • McPhee Black-on-red • Moccasin Gray • Nonflaked lithics • Piedra Black-on-white • Tallahogan Red

Geographic Keywords
Colorado (State / Territory) • Dolores • Dolores (County) • Montezuma (County) • North America (Continent) • Southwest Colorado • United States of America (Country)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -108.602; min lat: 37.463 ; max long: -108.483; max lat: 37.591 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contributor(s): Linda J. Scott; Meredith H. Matthews; Sarah W. Neusius; Linda P. Hart

Principal Investigator(s): David A. Breternitz

Sponsor(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Regional Office

Prepared By(s): University of Colorado, Dolores Archaeological Program

Submitted To(s): USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Regional Office

Record Identifiers

Bureau of Reclamation Contract No.(s): 8-07-40-S0562

Notes

General Note: As of April 2015, this and additional reports are hosted on the US Bureau of Land Management, Dolores Archaeological Program website; http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/ahc/dolores_archaeological/dap_technical_reports.html

General Note: Those listed as contributors in the individual & institutional roles section are the authors of the accompanying appendices for this report.

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