I hope all of you are doing well.
I changed the format of the blog a little. Blogger has recently provided all sorts of new format/layout options that are pretty cool. I hope you like the new design. If not, please let me know.
Here's an update from me:
For the entire month of June, I worked in the little town of Mimbres, NM excavating a the Harris Site, a Late Pithouse Period (AD 500-1000) site. The Harris Site is located on a large, flat terrace overlooking the Mimbres River and a large flood plain. In the 1920s, Emil Haury excavated several pithouses, but was mainly worried about the architecture and distinguishing Mimbres/Mogollon from the Anasazi. To his credit, Haury left several unexcavated pithouses on the site and Henry Stewart, the current land owner, has allowed Barb Roth to perform excavations there for the past few years.
This season, we excavated four pithouses and a few extra-mural areas. I was also lucky enough to go down slope and test a Classic Period (AD 1000-1250) pueblo! The pithouses all yielded some great stuff including numerous shell bracelets, a chunk of smelted and worked copper, a figurine, some turquoise and shell beads, and many, many ceramics. Also, we uncovered about 10 burials.
One of the cool phenomena that Barb has discovered in the past three years is the presence of pots that have been plastered into the floor near the hearth. This practice of plastered pots in floors has been found in three different pithouses. All of the pithouses are from different time periods. Barb suspects that this may be a familial tradition that is being passed on.
The pueblo was fun to dig, but since I only dug two 1x2 m trenches, we did not collect much data. We did however, get a good map and a better idea of where I will be digging next year.
This is only a brief blurb, if you have any questions, let me know.
Harris Site Overview
Final Photo of a pithouse
Another pithouse
Final photo of a pithouse, is that a possible deflector stone by the photo board/hearth?
Pithouse with pot in floor (its that little black circle just right of center)
Removal of pot
Barb holding removed pot
Shell pendant
Bone Awl
Animal Figurine
Turquoise bead/ polished frag.
Axe head found on pithouse floor
Remember when you all took your BYU MA comps and wrote about fish on Mimbres pots? Here's one just for fun. Found at a museum. Not our site, unfortunately.
