Mesa Verde Administrative History

A. Research agreement

In the field of resource studies the most important event for the park in 1965 was the successful negotiation of a 15-year cooperative agreement with the University of Colorado creating the University of Colorado Archaeological Research Center in Mesa Verde National Park. Dr. Robert H. Lister of the University Department of Anthropology was the director of the center. Research would be directed towards a more comprehensive understanding of the archeology of the San Juan drainage area and the area's position and relation to the greater Southwest. Dr. Lister, a former National Park Service employee and then a member of the Service's Mesa Verde Advisory Committee—formerly the Wetherill Mesa Advisory Committee—was eminently qualified to direct the research. He had conducted excavations within Mesa Verde National Park, surveys, salvage and excavations in other Service areas and worked with or conducted Service-contracted survey and salvage projects.

One valuable term of the contract called for the university to conduct survey and salvage, on a reimbursable basis, on all construction projects. The center also signed other agreements which included an inventory or survey of the archeological resources on lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management southwestern Colorado, and a survey of ruins on a portion of the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation immediately south of Mesa Verde.

As part of the arrangement with the University of Colorado, the park provided a dormitory facility for the research center personnel and the fully equipped archeological laboratory built and used by the Wetherill Mesa Project. The laboratory was made available for processing, analyzing, and storing specimens, for the preparation of photographic and cartographic records, and the writing of reports upon completed research projects.

So far most of the working crews have been students of the University of Colorado who have been employed as field or laboratory laborers. or assistants, and have received on-the-job guidance and instruction in archeological methods and theories. [1]

During the several summers that the research center has been in operation, staff archeologists and students from the University of Colorado have been engaged in a variety of archeological activities in the park. It is the purpose of the following chapter to summarize briefly the scope and purpose of the field work.

B. Chavill Mesa

1. Salvage at Sites 1088 and 1086

With Lister as director and Lancaster as research archeologist, the University of Colorado Archeological Research Center began operations on June 7, 1965, with the salvage of Site 1088, located near the newly-established campground facility of Morfield Canyon. This ruin had been a constant source of annoyance since the time it was cut by the road through the head of Morfield Canyon in the 1920s. With the opening of the Morfield Canyon Campground vandalism increased.

Work at the site was initiated by Lancaster with a crew of five Navajo laborers; later students from the University of Colorado supplemented the crew.

Site 1088 was reburied completely and the original surface reestablished so that its existence is not obvious. However, photographic records and a composite map of the village were prepared. The village contained at least 17 surface rooms and two subterranean kivas, with numerous terraces built on a hillside. [2]

On completion of the salvage, the crew moved to the top of the knoll on which the Morfield water tank is located to test Site 1086, what appeared to be a tower structure. Lister was in general charge of the project; Lancaster directed the field work, assisted by Jack E. Smith and Thomas Bowen, all of the staff of the University of Colorado. The test revealed such unusual features it was decided to proceed with full-scale excavation. The structure was a completely above-ground kiva with subfloor ventilator built on a platform. As the site was unique, it was stabilized by a park crew directed by David A. Decker. Research on the site was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. [3]

2. Salvage at Sites 1094 and 1093

Through testing in the Far View area, Lister was gaining a better picture of the story of that settlement, a problem he and Lancaster hoped to work on the next few years. This had to be stopped and the group moved to Sites 1094 and 1093 in preparation for the improvement of the road to Wetherill Mesa. It was apparent that parts of both sites would be obliterated by road construction. The two areas were excavated during the summer under the direction of Lancaster and Calvin H. Jennings. University of Colorado students, aided by two local workmen, accomplished the digging of the ruin.

Both sites were located on the East Fork of Navajo Canyon. Only the trash area south of the ruin was explored. Excavations exposed three definable rooms which were in an advanced state of decay. [4]

3. Site 1067

One of the most interesting and significant works initiated by Lister in July 1965 was the excavation of the Great Kiva in Morfield Canyon, that is, Site 1067. This was an excellent example of these specialized ceremonial structures and the first actual open site so far excavated in the Mesa Verde. The standing room walls around the kiva were banked high with dirt and the trenches backfilled to a depth of two or more feet. A test trench was dug eastward down the slope from the kiva through the trash area. Several burials were found and a corner of a small ruin, Site 1929, was cut. Trenching was begun westward towards Site 1927. The area to the north was also tested to get the relationship of the various house remains to the kiva. At one point the trash in this area extended to a depth of 14 feet. At the bottom of this test trench the remains of some kind of pit structure were found.

Work was also begun in the summer of 1967 on the suspected reservoir (Site 1931) in Morfield Canyon. A two-man crew also initiated a survey study of possible tower sites along the north rim of the park. In an area just below Site 1067 Lister and his students found a Pueblo I Great Kiva with lots of timbers for tree-ring dating. Part of the roof was collapsed and there was "P-1 pottery all over the floor." [5]

4. Site 60

This site was a large pit structure in the Pithouse B-Twin Trees area in a dense cluster of Basket Maker III and Pueblo I sites which was partially excavated by Lancaster in 1941; in 1965 it was completely cleared and roofed over. The site proved to be a large, unlined, unfinished pit structure. [6]

5. Far View area

Research at this area, supported by the National Science Foundation, continued throughout the month of July 1965. Additional tests were conducted and a trench between the building complex and the south retaining wall was run. Considerable fire-burned debris and a large, slab-lined firepit were found.

During the summer of 1968 Lister and 27 students, aided by Dr. Jack E. Smith and Research Archaeologist Lancaster excavated the major portion of Site 820, a Pueblo III ruin in the Far View Group near Navajo Hill. In the summer of 1969 they were joined by Dr. David Breternitz. Clearing of the site was supported by National Science Foundation funds. A tower, five kivas, and at least 35 domestic rooms were uncovered during the excavations. There was evidence that the site was occupied from late Pueblo I times into early Pueblo III.

Visitors were allowed to observe the excavations, under a controlled situation. Several thousand visitors came to the site and it was estimated that about 600 viewed the dig one day in August 1968. Many were extremely interested in watching archeologists at work. [7]

In a brief summary report Assistant Chief Park Archeologist Ingmanson noted the following about the excavation of Site 820:

While the excavation was in process the National Park Service hosted a Bureau of Land Management Four-State conference dealing with the problem of Antiquities on Federal Lands administered by BLM. During the conference the BLM managers and specialists were given a guided tour through Site 820 by Dr. Lister. Members of the local staff, and Dr. John Corbett and Staff Archeologist Jack R. Rudy from Washington, represented the National Park Service.

The location of Site 820 along the park entrance road offered a wonderful opportunity to provide on site-interpretation for visitors to the park. Each day, during the excavation, a uniformed man was at the site to answer questions and to provide interpretation of the field work. Visitor reaction was excellent.

Another far-reaching benefit of importance was that of immediate stabilization. During the course of the excavation the park stabilization crew worked right behind the excavators, and often side by side with them. This is a fortunate situation because it assures a maximum reliability regarding fine details of construction which could easily be neglected in delayed stabilization. By mid-fall Ruins Stabilization Foreman Al Decker, and his four-man crew of Navajo had completed the excavated portion of Site 620. By mid-summer 1969, the final excavation and stabilization had been completed, making the site ready for interpretive devices and use. [8]

After the completion of work at Site 20, Lister decided to excavate a portion of Mummy Lake. In this area the excavations would be connected with the interpretation of the water catchment (reservoir) story. In his monthly report of July 1969, he stated that three

weeks of testing at Mummy Lake has exposed two intake systems into the reservoir, surrounding walls that served to retain the sediments that periodically were cleaned from the bottom of the structure, a set of stone steps and perhaps several ramps that descended into the reservoir, and other features that provide information as to the history of the water control system. Numerous test trenches have revealed the nature of the deposits in and surrounding the reservoir, and are exposing ditches or canals adjacent to the structure. A backhoe will be employed this week to open a series of extensive trenches in the bottom of the reservoir proper. All indications suggest that Mummy Lake was functional during the Pueblo II period.

In August he reported again:

Testing of Mummy Lake was completed and most of our exploratory trenches adjacent to the reservoir were backfilled. A few trenches were left open to facilitate stabilization of certain features. Trenches in the bottom of the reservoir proper, dug by backhoe, revealed the nature of the waterlaid deposits there, and additional hand-dug trenches demonstrated the presence and nature of the canals that fed the reservoir and confirmed the location of the canal that continued south down Chapin Mesa. At the conclusion of our investigations Al Decker and his crew moved into Mummy Lake to begin the stabilization of the retaining walls and other features of the structure. [9]

C. Wetherill Mesa

1. Site 1104

During the summers of 1965 and 1966 Site 1104 was excavated as part of the archeological salvage program connected with the development of roads, trails, water and sewage systems, and other contemplated facilities on Wetherill Mesa. Site 1104, a Pueblo II site on the upper part of the mesa, would be destroyed by the approach road.

Most of the excavation work and preparation of records was done by students. Lister was in general charge of the project. Jack E. Smith and Lancaster shared the direction of the field work in 1965. Dr. Breternitz directed the group in 1966.

The site excavated is the ruin of a small village of early Pueblo III or McElmo Phase times. It consisted of at least twelve single-story rooms built to the north and west of a subterranean kiva. [10]

2. Site 1926

This site is an isolated Pueblo III kiva located southeast of Long House. It was excavated because the nearby cliff was the location of the exit tunnel of a proposed elevator shaft to take visitors to and from Long House. The landing platform for the elevator would be constructed directly over the kiva. A crew was assigned to its excavation during the summer of 1966, but nothing outstanding was encountered. After the kiva had been cleared, it was mapped, photographed and backfilled, as were other areas excavated by the University of Colorado group. [1]

3. Site 1107

This site, a small Pueblo II ruin, was excavated during the summer of 1966 because the structure lay on the proposed road right-of-way at the upper end of Wetherill Mesa. The site was not particularly significant; it consisted of the ruins of three rooms attached to four areas that were identified as work areas. [12]

4. Sites 171 and 1925

Site 1677 is located in the proposed Wetherill Mesa Visitor Center parking area. It was excavated in the summer of 1966. One firepit and a stone-lined pit were found. [13]

Site 1925, at the upper or northern end of the mesa, is located on the proposed right-of-way for the road to the archeological zone. Upon excavation in 1966, a small cist was found apparently for storage purposes.

5. Mini-train route

On June 10 Breternitz and his staff arrived with 25 students to prepare field plans for the 1970 field school operation. Among the staff were Dr. Frank W. Eddy of the University of Colorado and Lancaster. As the contract for the construction of the mini-train was to be awarded that summer, the first priority was to survey the mini-train route and conduct any salvage operation necessary. Also surveyed was the proposed parking lot area. During the three-month period about 25 sites were investigated in the mini-train route and the parking lot area.

In his monthly report of August, Breternitz wrote:

Preliminary cleaning and tabulation of artifacts was completed in the field. During the coming academic year, the graduate student who supervised the Wetherill Mesa excavations will continue detailed studies of the materials recovered and utilize the data as a portion of his doctoral dissertation. Two other students are assisting in this laboratory analysis. Questions which still need to be answered revolve around the fact that the area of the proposed parking lot where Pueblo I material were reported has produced ONLY Basketmaker III materials, even after extensive excavation and testing.

There are undoubtedly additional undetected archeological remains within the limits of the proposed parking lot. It is essential that this area be checked by someone familiar with the locality when construction, earth moving/tree removal operations are begun. [15]