point acquisition PREHISTORIC COMMUNITY PRESERVED IN SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO

new POINT acquisition

Prehistoric Community Preserved in Southwestern Colorado

The Conservancy purchases one of the largest and best-preserved prehistoric village sites in the Mesa Verde region.

Southwestern Colorado has a number of large,well-preserved prehistoric village sites, and Squaw Point Pueblo, a recent acquisition of the Conservancy, is an exceptional example. This 40-acre site is located near Dove Creek and consists of a series of large linear roomblocks on terraces that rise up from the biggest spring in the area.The village has as many as 400 surface rooms,a large burial area,and at least 65 kiva depressions.

“This is one of the best-preserved sites I’ve seen,” said Mark Varien,director of research at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in nearby Cortez.“The site contains a massive roomblock—one of the largest single blocks of contiguous rooms anywhere in the northern San Juan region.”

One of the Conservancy’s goals is the preservation of ancient communities,which have greater interpretive and research potential than single isolated sites.Squaw Point Pueblo is the Conservancy’s fifth preserve within a 25-mile radius in the central Mesa Verde region.

Squaw Point Pueblo is about two miles from two other pueblos that are part of the Conservancy’s re-

(Left) This black-on-white water jug was recovered from Squaw Point in 1940. (Above) Archaeologist Dave Breternitz (left) and landowner Jack Hampton tour the site.

cently established Brewer Archaeological Preserve. Although very little research has been conducted at Squaw Point,surface ceramics and architectural styles indicate that the pueblo’s main occupation occurred during the 13th century, which is often called the “Great Pueblo Period”due to the large,elaborately built villages and beautifully crafted pottery and jewelry that characterized this era in the Mesa Verde region. It was also during this time that the area’s population reached its height and major changes occurred in the layouts and locations of villages.The inhabitants moved from dispersed farmsteads on fertile mesatop areas to larger, more densely aggregated villages established around springs that were typically found along a canyonhead or rim.

Squaw Point Pueblo,which was probably occupied up to the late 1200s when the prehistoric Pueblo peoples completed their final migrations from the region, has tremendous potential to contribute to a better understanding of the changes in settlement patterns that occurred earlier in the 13th century, and the migration of the people from the region by the end of the century.

The Conservancy used POINT funds to purchase the site from Jack Hampton,a resident of Longmont, Colorado. His desire to see the site established as a permanent preserve prompted him to contact the Conservancy. —Tamara Stewart