Below are a few artifacts that have been particularly interesting from Structure 2 at Creswell Pueblo.  We started with this structure because it had a large groundstone assemblage in it.  We don’t know why but area also investigating this question. 

This first object is a portion of a mano that had broken off prehistorically.  Manos were used (and are still used today) along with metates in order to process food such as corn.  You can see where the ancient people who used the mano decided to recycle the object by creating a circular depression on the top.

re-used mano from Creswell Pueblo, Structure 2

The picture below is a small pestle made of volcanic rock that was used to crush and grind. 

pestle from Creswell Pueblo, Structure 2

This is a piece sandstone that has been shaped into a circle.  We don’t know exactly what it was used for, maybe a lid for sealing an ancient pot. 

shaped sandstone from Creswell Pueblo, Structure 2

faunal remains from Creswell Pueblo, Structure 1

So far this summer i have been doing the animal bone analysis from Creswell Peublo.  We have been focusing our efforts on structure 1 and 2, both pit structures possibly kivas.  It’s been an exciting process that never ceases to produce surprises.  Some of the more notable ones came from Structure 1.  Three layers produced  wide variety of animals not normally seen in other areas.  These finds included 4 bones of a badger paw with several cut marks, 4 bones from a loon wing, and several other bones from numerous smaller birds that are making their first appearance in the Homol’ovi archaeological record.

wing bones of a loon

The process of analyzing the bones is pretty straightforward.  First I take out all the bones from each bag and brush off all the dirt and ash.  After each one is clean I identify what body part it is and then what animal it belongs to along with noting if it was burned, modified, chewed on by rodents or carnivores, and what condition it is in.  We use a set numerical code to enter each item of information onto a sheet of paper and then enter it into our database.  Soon we will begin comparing the types of animals recovered from Creswell Pueblo from those previously analyzed from the pithouse village, AZ J:14:36.

Zach was the first brave person to get in the pit.   When Zach needed a break, I took a turn taking out the corn.  It was hard to see the corn because my glasses fogged up almost immediately.  Gwen Setalla helped me lift out the corn.

Talking the corn out of the pit

It’s a Hopi tradition for everyone who helped with the roast to take a bite of the first ear of corn — it tasted wonderful.  After the pit was unloaded, we all got our own ears of corn.  Justin Setalla was happy with the roast.

HUROP students eating their first ears of corn

After we had taken all the corn out of the pit, I decided to take some measurements.  Our Hopi friends thought I was crazy to want to spend more time in the pit, but I learned some intersting things about what happens to “bell-shaped” pits that are used for cooking. For example, the pit walls collapsed in during the roast, making the pit even more “bell-shaped.” The natural soils in this area are sand, which is not very stable when it dries out. The pit expanded by nearly a foot and decreased in depth by about the same amount.

The remnants of the roast that we left in the pit were the corn stalks and leaves and bits of corn cobs that were broken as we got in and out of the pit. Originally, we left a few badly burned cobs in the bottom of the pit, but we eventually got those out also. Hopi families took home the extra roasted corn to dry it for use in stews and other traditional dishes.

remnants of the roast at the bottom of the pit (we got out the last few burned cobs)

The park staff will cover the pit to cut down the amount of sand that blows in. To make the pit more permanent, it would need to be lined with stones on the side. This might be a project for next summer.

We started the roast by lighting a fire at the bottom of the pit using almost all greasewood.  Justin Setella wanted to use this particular wood because it burns very hot.  After the pit was sufficiently heated (after at least 4 hours) and the fire had burned down we threw in several handfuls of green corn leaves and sealed the ventilator hole with corn leaves and clay.  We used these to provide a layer of insulation between the coals and the corn so the ears wouldn’t be burned.  Next, Justin added a couple buckets of water to provide some steam to cook the corn with.  Then we dropped in the 40 dozen ears of corn we had been provided along with another bucket of water for good measure.    

Putting in the corn

With all the corn in the pit we needed to seal the pit to keep the steam in.  We pulled over a sheet of steel on top of the pit and began filling in all the cracks with corn leaves (see picture below).  Once we had finished with the cracks we began packing wet clay on top of the edges and finally we buried the whole sheet with dirt.  After letting it set overnight we opened it in the morning and I jumped in and began taking out buckets of hot, steamy corn.     

sealing the pit

uncovering the corn roasting pit

The pit had filled with over a foot of dirt.  The top layer was mostly windblown sand, which was the home of several toads (we rescued them and gave them a new home in the wet area near the front of the visitors center).  The next layer was ash, sand, and small pits of charcoal, which the decayed remains of the roasting layter.  The bottom most layer was dense charcoal — left over wood from heating the pit last year before the corn was added.

After we cleaned out the fill from last year’s corn roast, we made the pit a bit deeper and wider.  By the time we were finished, it was over 5 and a half feet deep.  Micah Loma’omvaya helped us line the bottom of the pit with sandstone.  This sandstone helps hold the heat from the fire.

rocks lining the bottom of the pit

In comparing the shell artifacts found at Creswell Pueblo and AZ J: 14: 36, we have found that more olivella beads are present at Creswell, while glycymeris bracelet fragments are more numerous at AZ J: 14: 36.  These two types of shell are the types that are most widely found at many sites in the Southwest.    The differences in proportion from these two sites, however, may due to the fact that only a small sample size is available for analysis from AZ J: 14: 36.

This week we also began excavating the round pithouse we found the first week of excavation. We wanted to make sure that the pit was in fact round and that its shape hadn’t been affected by the collapse of walls (wall fall) or rodent disturbance. From what we can tell after taking the pit down two more layers it is still pretty round. However, we also found yet another pit that had been carved into the larger structure. You can see this smaller intrusive pit on the left hand side of the picture where the sediment looks whiter and rougher.

Overall, we have learned a lot from our excavations during the past five weeks. We didn’t find the elusive square pithouse (it turns out it was across the road in another group’s unit), but we still learned a lot about the lifestyles of the people who lived here from the pits we did find.