Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1986 - 69

During the 1984 field season the natural upper fill was removed from the
remainder of Pithouse 1 down to the
burned roof fall. Again the burned beams
were carefully exposed, mapped and collected for tree-ring dating. These specimens have now been analyzed, and they
indicate that Pithouse 1 was constructed
in the year A.D. 868 or shortly thereafter. As the excavators approached the
floor they encountered more whole vessels and tools. The next surprise came
with the discovery that not one but two
skeletons were on the floor.
The toes seen in the original trench
were those of an Anasazi man in his late
20s or early 30s whose body had been
left intact on the floor. The cause of
death is unknown, but since all of the
bones were in correct anatomical position and only one knee and shinbone
were burned, investigators concluded
that soon after he died the man's body
was placed on the floor of the pithouse
and the roof began to burn.
The second skeleton was that of a man
in his mid-to-late 30s. It was more contorted than the other, the bones were
more burned, and several roof beams lay
beneath it. These details indicate that
either the second man was on the roof
when it burned or his body was thrown
into the pit while the roof was still burning. Both individuals had very gracile
post-cranial skeletons; indeed the second body was originally thought to be
female, based on field evaluation of the
pelvis and other bones.
The emotional impact of this scene is
immense. Viewing the entire pithouse
floor with its artifacts and skeletons,
one could not help being swept back in
time. The image is clear and direct as
one stands on the floor where people
stood more than a millennium ago and
looks around the room with all its furnishings intact as if it were still occupied. The scene captures a single day,
even a single afternoon, in an Anasazi
village, and the two skeletons bring the
scene even more into human perspective. It is sometimes difficult to imagine an archaeological site as a living
village, but the view of this excavated
pithouse sets one's imagination into motion to recreate the events that must
have preceded and followedthis moment
from the past. Did both of these people
die naturally, or was warfare, murder or
other foul play involved? Many of the
details may remain a mystery, but it is
the constant supply of mysteries that
keeps archaeologists enthralled with
their work.
Wecan learn many things from a wellpreserved structure such as this. Inside
the pithouse floor is a circular fire pit,
just south of the center of the floor. The
southern quarter of the pithouse is separated by a low partition or wingwall
that never stood more than about three
feet high. On the north side of the

This plan of the Duckfoot Canyon site shows the arrangement of the excavated
living rooms (with hearths), storage rooms, and two subterranean pithouses used
for food preparation , family gatherings and ceremonies. Numerous household
goods and two human skeletons were found on the floor of Pithouse 1.
wingwall, near its west end, there still
composed of two household groups. The
rests a large, flat sandstone slab with a
household, the basic cooperative domestic group (the people who eat and cook
deep trough worn in its surface from
grinding. This grinding slab, called a
together), also cooperated at a higher
level with their closest kinsmen, who in
metate, was propped up so that when
corn or other seeds were ground in it
this case lived next door. The interthe meal would slide out the open end
household family groups certainly coof the trough. Two large flat pottery
operated in building their third of the
sherds lay on the floor beneath the open
pueblo room block and one pithouse, and
end of the metate trough, as though
probably in farming, hunting and ceremonies as well. The pithouse, then, was
ready to collect the next batch of cornmeal. The hand-held stone, or mano,
apparently shared as a working space, a
that was rubbed against the metate surmeeting place and a place of gathering
face for grinding, still lay beside the
for ceremony and ritual.
metate.
Our knowledge of Anasazi culture conThe ceramic vessels on the floor in
tinues to increase, but a great deal more
the main chamber of the pithouse were
needs to be done. The basic chronology
sorted into two distinct sets- one in the
and stylistic sequences of architecture
east half of the structure and one in the
and artifacts have been relatively well
west half. The size, shape and number
defined during the last century, but this
of vessels in each set are almost identikind of information is only a first step
in the archaeological process. More recal. Each set consists of two small cookcent studies have begun to focus on culing jars, one or two medium cooking
tural systems and the interaction of
jars, one large cooking jar, and a large
storage or water jar. In addition to these
people with their changing social and
natural environment. Excavations at the
matched sets of ceramic vessels there
Duckfoot site are only one phase in the
was one painted jar on the west half of
the floor and numerous partial vessels
long term research goals of the Center
for Southwestern Archeology.
on both parts of the floor.
One reason for two complete sets of
Future work for the Center involves
the excavations of the Duckfoot site and
cooking and storage vessels in the pittwo other sites nearby. The three sites
house might be that two households
shared the structure. Each household
represent consecutive occupations between a.D. 850 and 1100, with Duckfoot
had its own living rooms and storage
rooms in the pueblo, but two or more
being the earliest in the sequence. Each
of the sites is well preserved and is charhouseholds probably shared each of the
acterized by a single, relatively brief
three pithouses at the Duckfoot site.
(20-40 years) occupation. The sites are
Although the east end of the room
so close together that the geographical
block and the easternmost pithouse remain unexcavated, and the central pitsetting can be assumed to have been
house is only partially excavated, some
essentially constant, yet there were substantial changes in community pattern,
clues about the social groups within the
architectural design, building techvillage are beginning to emerge. Based
on differences in building styles and
niques, and artifact styles. These certainly must have been associated with
techniques, it appears that the pueblo
consists of three distinct parts, each
changes in social organization and ideassociated with one pithouse and each
ology. By studying these sites it may
be possible to explain some of the social
composed of two living rooms and two
to four storage rooms. Perhaps each
processes that accompanied the observed stylistic and technical developthird of the pueblo was occupied by an
ments during this time period.
extended family and each family was
1986
March/April

Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1986

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 1986