new acquisition COMMUNITY CENTER PRESERVED IN EAST-CENTRAL ARIZONA

Community Center Preserved in East-Central Arizona

Late prehistoric pueblo represents key periods of change in the area.

Sherwood Ranch Pueblo,a masonry village with approximately 300 rooms, is the largest of about five contemporary village sites located along the upper Little Colorado River. It is thought to have served as a center for what was a large community during the 14th century.The site’s current landowners, Wendell and Ruth Sherwood, have agreed to donate the site, formerly known as Raven Ruin,to the Conservancy.

“Sherwood Ranch Pueblo is centrally located within a cluster of 14th century sites and is by far the largestat least twice the size of its contemporaries,” said Keith Kintigh,a professor of anthropology at Arizona State University who has devoted most of his career to researching the late prehistory of this area.“Additionally, the village was evidently occupied much longer than its contemporaries,all of which suggest the site’s

Sherwood Ranch

These exposed masonry walls are still standing at Sherwood Ranch Pueblo. The Conservancy will stabilize them as part of this project.

premiere political and likely economic importance.”

The pueblo saw two periods of occupation.The first occurred between A.D. 1250 and 1300,a time of a major change in the area’s settlement pattern. People shifted from dispersed settlements into nucleated, single structures situated around plazas or communal architecture.The second period of occupation took place from approximately A.D. 1300 to after 1370.The site contains several distinct styles of well-preserved masonry architecture, multiple kivas and trash deposits.

According to Andrew Duff, assistant professor of anthropology at Washington State University, the upper Little Colorado River area was characterized by numerous groups with distinct cultural and material traits from the 11th through the mid14th century. Populations living in this less densely settled region were actively recruited by residents of the Hopi and Zuni regions to join their settlements.

Sherwood Ranch Pueblo was among the last settlements to be inhabited as the regional population migrated north and east to the lands occupied by the Hopi and Zuni.The village is located in an area that figures prominently in the oral traditions of these tribes as well as the traditional histories of western Keresan-speaking groups.

The pueblo, seen from this aerial view, sits above the floodplain of the Little Colorado River.

“This site is of strong interest to the Hopi Tribe because it represents physical verification of Hopi clan migration histories and the Hopi people’s strong connection to the landscape of the Colorado Plateau,”says Wayne Taylor,Jr., Hopi tribal chairman.

During the Sherwoods’ownership of the property, the White Mountain Archaeological Center undertook excavations at the site from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. Consequently, about 100 rooms were left exposed and they are now threatened by erosion and vandalism.In 2001,the Center for Desert Archaeology, a nonprofit preservation organization based in Tucson,approached the Sherwoods with a proposal to preserve the site.This fall, the Arizona Historic Preservation Heritage Fund awarded a matching grant to the Conservancy for the project.The grant program is funded by the Arizona Lottery and administered by the Arizona State Parks Board.Sherwood Ranch Pueblo is the Conservancy’s seventh Arizona project to be awarded a Heritage Fund Grant.

The Conservancy is working with the Center for Desert Archaeology and Geo-Map, a Tucson-based company that provides mapping and digital cartographic services,to complete photo-documentation and mapping of the site, to stabilize and backfill exposed areas.Public educational and outreach programs are also being developed,including the creation of an interpretive trail and guided tour through the preserve.

“When combined with the previously preserved Hooper Ranch and Danson Pueblos [two Conservancy pueblos located nearby whose acquisition was also funded in part by a grant from the Arizona Historic Preservation Heritage Fund],Casa Malpais,and Rattlesnake Point Pueblo,the permanent protection of Sherwood Ranch Pueblo will contribute to the preservation of the larger prehistoric community that once thrived within the Little Colorado River drainage area,” said Duff, who is assisting with the preservation and public educational aspects of the project.—Tamara Stewart

Conservancy Plan of Action

SITE: Sherwood Ranch Pueblo (formerly Raven Ruin) CULTURE & TIME PERIOD: Mogollon, A.D. 1250-1370 STATUS: The site is currently unprotected and faces threats from continued erosion and vandalism. ACQUISITION: Wendell and Ruth Sherwood have agreed to donate the 11-acre property containing the site to the Conservancy. Funds are needed for fencing,the photo-documentation and mapping project,stabilization,the creation of a management plan,and for the planned interpretive trail,educational displays,and programs. The Conservancy has received a $98,800 grant from the Arizona Heritage Fund and must raise $84,496 in matching funds by December 2003. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Please send your contributions to The Archaeological Conservancy, Attn:Project Sherwood Ranch Pueblo; 5301 Central Avenue NE,Suite 902; Albuquerque, NM 87108-1517.