An Unusual Pueblo III Ruin, Mesa Verde, Colorado

Abstract

Site 52, a possible platform mound, is unusually situated near the bottom of a draw rather than along the ridge of Chapin Mesa. Complete excavation of the small surface structure yielded two distinct levels of construction and several architectural phenomena which previously had not been reported from San Juan Anasazi sites. A rectangle of multiple-coursed masonry was built on a sloped, irregular ground surface. An interior crosswall with a floor level opening, a raised circular floor feature, two peripheral stepped abutments on opposite sides, and a complex of masonry walls and external alignments on the third side were added to the basic rectangle. The second construction level utilized what appeared to be intentional interior and exterior fill as a base, and two alignments further subdivided the rectangle. Two rubble-filled abutments were appended externally to the fourth wall of the rectangle. Artifacts were rarely found. Solid, continuously built coursed masonry, construction techniques, and pottery types suggest that Site 52 was built during Pueblo III and may have been a platform mound of ceremonial significance.

Prehistoric Soil and Water Conservation on Chapin Mesa, Southwestern Colorado

“…It is quite probable that then, as now, water played a dominant role in Pueblo religion, and that a community project to bring in water could easily be organized on a religious basis. In fact, if the Far View Ditch did empty originally into the Fewkes Canyon Draw, the need for an artificial ditch would have ended at the location of Site 52, a Pueblo III masonry structure with a probable religious association (Luebben, Herold, and Rohn 1960). Is this a mere coincidence?…”