Montezuma Village Revisited

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Research in Montezuma Canyon, San Juan County, Utah" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Montezuma Village, located in San Juan County, Utah, was a large prehistoric Ancestral Puebloan community center. Although the village was visited by explorers and archaeologists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the first effort at documenting the entire village was in the early 1960s by Ray Matheny. Parts of the village were inhabited at least from Pueblo I through Pueblo III times. Despite significant damage from human and natural forces, substantial areas of the village remain available for study. Most of the village is on private land with one section on BLM land. Recent investigations at the village revealed more about its extent, layout, and occupation. Residue and soil studies were also carried out. The village has two great houses; one is a Chaco-era, multi-story structure with a compact footprint, a steep vertical back wall and at least three depressions. Its presence reflects participation in the widespread Chaco great house system. Many village structures appear to be latePueblo II period, single-unit or multiple-unit pueblos,. Recent investigations contribute to a better understanding of the dynamic role Montezuma Village played as an important community center near the northern frontier of the great house system.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeological Research in Montezuma Canyon, San Juan County, Utah   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23242