Prehistoric Soil and Water Conservation on Chapin Mesa, Southwestern Colorado

Abstract

Intensive archaeological survey on Chapin Mesa in Mesa Verde National Park disclosed remains of soil and water conservation devices built and used by the Pueblo II and III inhabitants. Low stone masonry check-dams across intermittent drainages formed farming terraces, while associated seasonal field houses sheltered their tillers. Larger dams near clusters of house sites stored water for domestic use. Water from the extensive collection system for the largest of these, Mummy Lake, was subsequently led through the long Far View Ditch to the late Pueblo III Cliff-Fewkes Canyon cliff dwelling group. These various adaptations to an undependable environment may be symptomatic of the underlying causes for the ultimate abandonment of the Mesa Verde.

Factors Controlling Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Maize Productivity in the American Southwest, Part 2: The Chaco Halo, Mesa Verde, Pajarito Plateau/Bandelier, and Zuni Archaeological Regions

“…The Mesa Verde region receives substantial winter precipitation (Table 4), which, to some extent, mitigates the problematic occurrence of sufficient summer moisture. Check dams were employed within the upper part of numerous side-valley drainages that descend from the Mesa Verde plateau (Nordenskiold 1893;Rohn 1963;Stewart and Donnelly 1943); however, their total acreage relative to the overall mesa top area is small.…”

“…Wycoff (1977), based on a pollen profile from Mummy Lake/Fairview Reservoir-an unroofed Great Kiva in the style of the Ats'ee Nitsaa (Fowler and Stein 1992), suggested that maize cultivation of the Mesa Verde plateau, which included extensive clearing of pinyon-juniper forests, occurred prior to the mesa's abandonment in the latethirteenth century. Check dams also were employed in a staircase manner at Mesa Verde within the upper parts of some side-valley tributaries in order to pond water and soil; however, their total acreage relative to the overall mesa top area is small (Rohn 1963;Stewart 1940).…”

Mummy Lake: an unroofed ceremonial structure within a large-scale ritual landscape

“…Different workers have held different ideas regarding whether Mummy Lake was a water-storage feature or whether it was ceremonial in nature (e.g., Chapin, 1892;Fewkes, 1917;Rohn, 1963Rohn, , 1977Smith, 1979;Stewart, 1940). Most studies have argued that Mummy Lake was a domestic water-storage feature (although an unreliable one) including the recent studies of Breternitz (1999) and Wright Paleohydrological Institute (WPI) (2000).…”

“…Mummy Lake was and still is the first of the massive surface ruins encountered when one visits Mesa Verde and the exaggerated mass of the earthen platform and masonry retaining wall contributes to its landmark status. Originally interpreted as an irrigation reservoir (Fewkes, 1917), Mummy Lake is central to the argument that the pre-Columbian occupants of Mesa Verde practiced large-scale water management (Rohn, 1963).…”

“…Fewkes (1917) also mentioned the lower ditch and suggested that it was an "old Indian path of great antiquity that connected the Far View group with Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace". Rohn (1963) proposed a water collection and distribution system (Fig. 8) consisting of a 10 hectare (ha) collection area on the relatively flat, upper part of the mesa, a gathering basin at the head of a draw, and a compacted footpath that served as a feeder ditch to convey water another 1000 m along the ridge crest to Mummy Lake.…”