Relive the Past

Evaluating the “Chaco-ness” of Albert Porter Pueblo Through Special Analyses

While Crow Canyon field archaeologists have moved their operations to Goodman Point Pueblo, researchers in the lab continue to study Albert Porter Pueblo, a large village site test-excavated by Crow Canyon from 2001 through 2004. Archaeological research is such that even long after field excavations have ceased, the lab crew has to keep “digging.”

Last year, we were pleased to report that all the basic analyses for Albert Porter Pueblo had been completed. We had analyzed nearly 170,000 sherds for pottery type and vessel form, almost 75,000 pieces of chipped-stone debitage, and close to 200 projectile points. Even so, much more remains to be done with the Porter artifact assemblage.

Albert Porter figures significantly in the archaeology of the Mesa Verde region because of its great house—a multistory building that contains both masonry rooms and a large, aboveground kiva. Some of the characteristics of the Albert Porter great house are similar to those seen at great houses in Chaco Canyon, located more than 100 miles away in northwestern New Mexico. With its magnificent great houses, Chaco Canyon was the focal point of a regional system that existed throughout the San Juan Basin from the mid-eleventh through the mid-twelfth centuries A.D.—a system referred to by archaeologists as the “Chaco phenomenon.”

Among the many research issues being investigated by Crow Canyon at Albert Porter Pueblo, the possibility of a Chaco connection is one of the most intriguing. What was the nature of the Chaco phenomenon in southwestern Colorado? Just how “Chacoan” are the great houses of the Mesa Verde region? Did sites with such buildings function similarly to their magnificent analogs in Chaco Canyon? What was the role of Albert Porter Pueblo in the social landscape of the Mesa Verde region, and how did that role evolve from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries?

In-depth analyses of the pottery and stone artifacts from Albert Porter Pueblo will help us answer these important questions. Last winter, the laboratory staff and Albert Porter Pueblo project director Susan Ryan selected a sample of about 3,500 pottery sherds that will be examined for evidence of a Chaco Canyon connection. Pottery associated with Chaco Canyon sites has distinctive temper, often consisting of a shiny green rock called trachyte. Lab analyst uses rim-arc analysis to estimate vessel size.The laboratory staff will analyze the temper from the Porter pottery sample with a binocular microscope to estimate the quantity of pottery that was manufactured in the vicinity of Chaco Canyon.

Additionally, by estimating the sizes of white ware serving bowls and corrugated gray cooking jars (see photo) and by evaluating painted pottery designs on white ware bowls, the lab staff hopes to determine whether or not Albert Porter Pueblo functioned as a community center from the mid-1000s through the mid-1200s. More large bowls, cooking jars, and elaborately decorated bowls are expected at community centers than at smaller, domestic sites.

The special analyses are not limited to pottery. Albert Porter Pueblo yielded eight obsidian and two turquoise specimens. Because neither of these raw materials is available locally, the artifacts will be subjected to special analyses to determine their origins. The results will allow us to compare Albert Porter with sites in Chaco Canyon, as well as with other great house sites in southwestern Colorado, all part of our goal of assessing the “Chaco-ness” of Albert Porter Pueblo.

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