The Archaeology of Castle Rock Pueblo

¹
Crow Canyon's research at Castle Rock Pueblo was conducted as part of a long-term research project in the Sand Canyon locality. Our work at this site was guided by the research design for the entire locality (Lipe et al. 1991*1), the goals of which were

^{(1) to define the community or communities that occupied the Sand Canyon locality during the period A.D. 1150-1300 and to characterize their sociocultural organization and sustaining environments; (2) to identify social, cultural, and environmental changes that took place in the Sand Canyon locality during the period A.D. 1150-1300, with a special focus on the abandonment of the locality in the late 1200s; and (3) to relate the locality's patterns of organization and change to larger patterns in the Pueblo Southwest, as well as to theoretical frameworks that promote understanding and interpretation of both locality and area-wide configurations [Lipe 1992*3:1].}

In addition, a number of "instrumental studies," including chronology building and assemblage-formation analyses, were designed to provide the specific data and inferences required to address the issues targeted by these three research objectives (Lipe 1992*3:1).

²
The first two seasons of fieldwork at Castle Rock Pueblo were guided more specifically by the research design of the Sand Canyon Project Site Testing Program (Varien and Kuckelman 1999*1). The primary goals of the Testing Program were to improve our understanding of site chronology, community organization, length and continuity of occupation, site abandonment, and site-formation processes in the Sand Canyon locality during the Pueblo III period, A.D. 1150-1300 (Lightfoot et al. 1992*1:12). Castle Rock was one of 13 sites selected for testing as part of this project. It was chosen because it appeared to date from late in the Pueblo III period and it was located in a different topographic zone (in the canyon bottom, adjacent to the McElmo Creek floodplain) than most of the other sites being tested. Furthermore, it was the largest village identified in the southern portion of the locality, which made it an ideal site for comparison with Sand Canyon Pueblo, the largest site in the northern portion of the locality and in the locality as a whole (see Bradley [1992*2] for a discussion of Crow Canyon's research at Sand Canyon Pueblo). By the end of the second year of test excavations at Castle Rock, sufficient tree-ring and pottery data had been compiled to allow us to confirm that the site dated primarily from the last half of the thirteenth century. We were also able to refine estimates of the number of kivas and surface rooms present and to tentatively suggest a bipartite division of the site into "halves," one north of the butte and one south. And finally, human skeletal remains documented during preliminary testing at Castle Rock suggested that the abandonment of this village might have differed from that of the other sites included in the Testing Program.

³
The final three seasons of excavation at Castle Rock focused on refining site-specific patterns tentatively identified during the first phase of the investigation and further contributing to Crow Canyon's research goals in the locality as a whole. Additional data were needed to fine-tune estimates of the number, variety, spatial arrangement, and chronology of the buildings in the village, estimates which in turn would allow us to better evaluate models of aggregation and sociopolitical complexity in ancient Pueblo communities. Additional research objectives included documenting more complete floor assemblages for comparison with those at other sites and recovering additional plant and animal remains for the insights they might provide into the ancient environment. In particular, we were interested in how the people of Castle Rock affected—and were affected by—the environment. Did environmental changes during the thirteenth century make the McElmo valley more attractive than other areas for agriculture? What role did the environment play in the abandonment of sites, the locality, and the region? Castle Rock provided an excellent case study in site abandonment and had the potential to contribute significantly to our understanding of the processes that led to the depopulation of the entire northern Southwest. A detailed discussion of Crow Canyon's research objectives at Castle Rock Pueblo during the final three years of excavation is presented in Lightfoot et al. (1992*1:19-27).

⁴
Site-specific questions that guided Crow Canyon's research at Castle Rock are presented below. Each question is followed by the title of the section or sections of this report in which information related to that topic can be found.

Site-Specific Research Questions

When was the village occupied?
Chronology

How many buildings were in the village?
Architecture

What types of buildings were present?
Architecture

How were the various buildings used?
Architecture, Settlement Organization

Were the buildings used seasonally or year-round?
Architecture ("Kivas" subheading)

What was the layout of the village?
Settlement Organization

Why was the village built in this location?
Architecture

How many people lived in the village?
Population Estimates

How rapidly did aggregation take place at Castle Rock Pueblo?
Chronology

Under what social conditions did aggregation take place?
Castle Rock Pueblo in a Regional Context, Chronology, Settlement Organization

Under what environmental conditions did aggregation take place?
Subsistence, Plant Evidence, Faunal Remains

Where was the village water source?
Subsistence

What is the evidence of a subsistence strategy?
Subsistence

Was this village part of a larger community, and if so, what was its role in the larger community?
Architecture, Castle Rock Pueblo in a Regional Context, Trade

How does the architecture at this site compare with the architecture at Sand Canyon Pueblo?
Architecture

What was the nature of the interaction between the occupants of Castle Rock Pueblo and those of Sand Canyon Pueblo?
Trade

Is there any evidence of long-distance interaction?
Trade

What types of public architecture were present in the village?
Architecture

Was the public architecture used only by the inhabitants of Castle Rock, or was it used by people in the surrounding area as well?
Architecture

Is there any evidence of horizontal or vertical social differentiation at Castle Rock Pueblo?
Settlement Organization

What is the evidence of warfare at the site, locality, or regional level at the time of aggregation?
The Final Days of Castle Rock Pueblo

What were the circumstances surrounding the abandonment of Castle Rock Pueblo?
The Final Days of Castle Rock Pueblo, Castle Rock Pueblo Bibliography

Is there evidence of trauma, violence, or environmental stress at Castle Rock Pueblo?
The Final Days of Castle Rock Pueblo, Castle Rock Pueblo Bibliography

What historical records contain information about the site?
Oral History; see also History of Investigations in the Castle Rock Pueblo Database

References cited | To borrow, cite, or request permission
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