COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL STUDIES
region. It measured how long families occupied their small homes and how this changed over time. “We demonstrated that while house- holds moved relatively frequently, they moved in a social landscape that consisted of communities that persisted for centuries and that these communities had central sites we call community centers that were occu- pied for much longer than the smaller residential sites.” —Mark Varien 32 Excavations by Crow Canyon at Castle Rock Pueblo (1990– 1994) focused on the conditions that contributed to the depopulation of the Mesa Verde region by the end of the 13th century. Castle Rock Pueblo was constructed during the late Pueblo III period, and the village was home to 75 to 150 people from A.D. 1260s until sometime during A.D. 1280s. 33 Crow Canyon archaeologists designed the Village Testing Project (1994–1997) to complement our earlier research in the nearby Sand Canyon locality. Research in Sand Canyon suggested that large villages had formed rapidly in the mid-1200s as people moved from small upland settlements to large villages in canyon environments. 34 Communities Through Time: Migration, Cooperation, and Conflict (1997–2004) was a regional research project that examined the
development and depopulation of Ancestral Pueblo communities in the Mesa Verde archaeological region from A.D. 900 to 1300. This project emerged out of extensive consultations with Crow Canyon’s Native American Advisory Group, who wanted to investigate the longer histories of communities and the mesa top community centers that pre - ceded the final canyon rim community centers, including Shields Pueblo from the Goodman Point community and Albert Porter Pueblo from the Woods Canyon community. 35 The Basketmaker Communities Project (2011–2020) was our first multi-year research project to focus primarily on the earliest permanent Pueblo occupation in the Mesa Verde region—the Basketmaker III period (A.D. 500–750). The Native American Advisory Group was involved in developing research questions and discussions with group members that contributed to interpretations of Pueblo history viewed through the archaeological evidence collected. 36 Crow Canyon and The Archae- ological Conservancy received History Colorado’s 2022 Stephen H. Hart People’s Choice Award for Historic Preservation for collaborative work to preserve the Haynie site, a Chacoan village in the central Mesa Verde region that was occupied from A.D. 500s until regional depopulation in late A.D. 1200s.
For the past four decades, the focus of our mission-based initiatives has been the Indigenous occupation of the central Mesa Verde region in southwestern Colorado, a region with one of the densest concentrations of archaeological sites in North America. This region provides endless opportunities to study the past to better serve present and future generations. Since our inception, Crow Canyon has conducted archaeological research throughout the region in dialogue with American Indian partners and in conjunction with public educational programming. Here we share a few key examples of our archaeological research projects focused on community and regional studies over the decades.
30 Our first excavation project, beginning in 1983, was at the Duckfoot site, a well-preserved Pueblo I period hamlet located a mile northwest of our campus. Crow Canyon archae - ologists spent five years supervising groups of students and adult volunteers in excavating this small habitation. The site provided an ideal opportunity to study household organization because Crow Canyon archaeologists excavated all 20 surface rooms, four pit structures,
and the entire midden. With this project, we became committed to conducting long-term archaeological research proj - ects, designed and managed by resident professional staff, with campus-based education programs closely integrated with the research. 31 The Sand Canyon Archaeo- logical Project (1984–1993) focused on understanding population movement in the central Mesa Verde
15 2023 ANNUAL REPORT
CROW CANYON ARCHAEOLOGICAL CENTER 16
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