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Acknowledgments

Testing Program fieldwork took place on both public and private land between 1988 and 1991. Working with the people who live in the area where our research was conducted remains one of the most rewarding experiences of the project. Troy and Shorlene Oliver and their family, and Roy and Lillian Retherford and their daughters, Glenna Harris and Guyrene McAfee, all granted permission to test sites on their property. The Olivers and their sons, Rick and Rod, farm in the Goodman Point area. They were invaluable as friends and guides, and Rick helped to backfill excavations. Roy and Lillian Retherford both passed away during the period in which the Testing Program fieldwork was conducted. They had been residents of Montezuma County since the early part of this century. Roy worked as a cattleman in the area around Yellow Jacket and Goodman Point, and Lillian, who graduated from Fort Lewis College, was a schoolteacher. Their daughters, Glenna Harris and Guyrene McAfee, gave us permission to work at sites on their property during the final year of the Testing Program field research. All of these individuals allowed Crow Canyon and the hundreds of people who participated in our research and educational programs a chance to visit and excavate sites on their property, and they also donated all collections for permanent curation and study. Catherine Stanley and her son, Stanton, gave us permission to travel across their property to reach sites on public land; Catherine also passed away during the time this report was being prepared. All residents of the Goodman Point area, who live and work among the ruins that we study, welcomed us to their community, shared their knowledge of the area, and tolerated the traffic and dust created by our traveling to and from the sites each day. Theirs was an act of generosity and goodwill that cannot be overstated. We hope that with this report we enrich their lives by sharing what we have learned about the Puebloan farmers who also called Goodman Point home.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) granted permission to work on sites located on public land. The Testing Program could not have been completed without the help of many individuals who work for this agency. Sally Wisely, the San Juan Resource Area Manager during the fieldwork phase of the Testing Program, and Kristie Arrington, BLM archaeologist, were particularly helpful. The staff of the Anasazi Heritage Center, under the direction of LouAnn Jacobson, have also contributed to the success of this project. In particular, Susan Thomas and Carolyn Landes, aided by interns Elizabeth Goetze and Katherine Neustadt, helped with the photography that appears in this report. Anne Christner, a Crow Canyon participant, labeled and inventoried the artifacts; Dan Avery, of Cortez Camera, Cortez, Colorado, provided technical assistance; and Robert Jensen, of Heritage Imaging, Inc., Cortez, Colorado, took the artifact photographs.

Aspects of Testing Program analysis and report production were partly funded by two State Historical Fund grant awards from the Colorado Historical Society. Grant 95-02-028 provided funding for the study of cooking-pot accumulation rates, and grant 96-02-030 helped fund the production of this report.

Crow Canyon participants are the core of our research program. Anyone familiar with archaeology, both field and laboratory work, knows that the romance associated with the profession quickly gives way to the realization that hard and often tedious work must be done to produce quality research. We are especially proud that our participants understand that archaeology is not just about finding things, but that answering specific research questions requires specific methods, and that these methods might necessitate excavation in areas where cultural materials are scarce. This is especially true of the stratified random sampling strategy employed in the Testing Program. Throughout excavation and basic analyses, program participants did what they were asked to do with such enthusiasm that it continually energized the Crow Canyon staff. We are grateful for their friendship, as well as their hard work and desire to learn about the past.

The entire Crow Canyon staff contributed to the team effort that was required to complete this long, and at times logistically difficult, research program. The coordinated efforts of the administrative, marketing, public relations, kitchen, maintenance, and housekeeping staffs all contributed to the success of the Site Testing Program. The intellectual leadership of William D. Lipe, Director of Research from 1984 to 1993, guided us in the design and implementation of the Testing Program research. Richard Wilshusen, the subsequent Director of Research, oversaw continued progress on this report, and his successor, Ian (Sandy) Thompson, provided the guidance that resulted in its publication in electronic form. Research advisors David Breternitz, Frank Hole, Timothy Kohler, and David Wilcox provided valuable comments during the initial stages of developing the research design for the Testing Program. Further consultation and support were provided by Crow Canyon field archaeologists Bruce Bradley, Melissa Churchill, James Kleidon, and Ricky Lightfoot.

Kristin Kuckelman codirected the Testing Program between 1989 and 1991. Jerry Fetterman worked for a time as assistant site archaeologist, and George and Betty Havers volunteered as field supervisors, providing much-needed assistance every field season. Field interns also supervised excavations and produced a great deal of site documentation; these individuals include Julie Cunningham, Kari Chalker, Jenny Bishop, Liz Amos, Sara Schier, Susan Kenzle, Stephen Yost, and Jeffrey Blomster.

Laboratory archaeologists processed and analyzed the materials recovered from the tested sites. These individuals include Angela Schwab, former Laboratory Director; Melita Romasco, current Laboratory Director; and laboratory research archaeologists Melissa Churchill, Claudia Clemens, Mary Etzkorn, Laura Heacock, Michelle Hegmon, Joe Keleher, Nancy Kennedy, Steve Lakatos, Scott Ortman, Chris Pierce, Louise Schmidlap, Margaret Thurs, and James Woodman. Laboratory interns who worked with Testing Program materials include Margaret Bullock, Vivian Chao, Molly Davies, Sharon DeSipio, John Douglas, Janet Hagopian, Heidi Hester, Rebecca Hammond, Abigail Jewell, Krista Kasprenski, Nicole Lamberg, Michael Runge, Nick Scoales, Jeffrey Scott, Elizabeth Sobel, Anna Shugart, Gary Wood, and Michelle Woodward. Molly Duncan collected much of the rim-arc data from the tested-site pottery assemblages.

Karen Adams, the Director of Environmental Archaeology at Crow Canyon, conducted the macrobotanical analyses with the support of her assistant, Mark Hovezak, and summer interns Shannon Gray, Sara Stewart, and Diane McMillen. Adams and Hovezak also administered the efforts of the researchers who conducted the pollen, faunal, and human remains analyses, the results of which appear in this report. The efforts of these authors--Jannifer Gish, Jonathan Driver, Michael Brand, Lianne Lester, Natalie Munro, and Anne Katzenberg--are gratefully acknowledged.

The Crow Canyon education staff assisted in ways too numerous to mention. Margaret Heath, Director of Education, and staff members Cynthia Bradley, Sue Breyan, Marjorie Connolly, Ed DeFrancia, Paul Ermigiotti, Herb Folsom, Lew Matis, Roger Walkenhorst, and Beth Wheeler are superb archaeologists and valued colleagues. Ruth Slickman, who was the resident host at Crow Canyon, also helped with fieldwork and provided friendship and encouragement at times when it was most needed.

Michael Adler and Carla Van West, who directed survey in the upper Sand Canyon locality, have always been generous with their ideas and their data. The success of the Testing Program began with their research. They fully supported a locality-wide perspective for understanding settlement-pattern change in the Sand Canyon locality.

A number of individuals have read and commented on selected chapters in this volume. Sandy Thompson commented on Chapter 1 and Chapters 20-22. Alden Hayes and David Breternitz reviewed Chapter 21, and Jeffrey Dean and Richard Wilshusen reviewed Chapters 20 and 21. Jonathan Driver provided valuable comments on Chapter 22.

Louise Schmidlap of Crow Canyon's Publications Department coordinated the entire production effort from start to finish and did much of the actual work involved in transforming the manuscript into a finished product. Claudia Clemens, Ginnie Dunlop, Mary Etzkorn, and Lynn Udick, also in Publications, assisted in various aspects of production. Art Rohr, Lynn Udick, Lee Gripp, and Roy Paul of the Crow Canyon Information Systems Department were essential in providing the data used in this report. Ginnie Dunlop, Tom May, and Neal Morris collaborated on the production of the figures for this report.

The support provided by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Board, Chairman's Council, and Research Advisory Committee was essential to the success of the Testing Program. Their financial support, intellectual input, and friendship were critical to the success of this research.

Finally, Sandy Thompson, who served as Executive Director of Crow Canyon when the Site Testing Program was designed, and as Director of Research as the report was being completed, deserves special thanks. Sandy recognized from the start that the Testing Program had the potential to make a significant contribution to the discipline of archaeology in general, and to our understanding of the Mesa Verde region in particular. He continually challenged us to develop this potential to the fullest. Sandy devoted enormous energy to understanding the empirical, methodological, and theoretical issues addressed by the Testing Program, so that he could best commit the institution's resources toward the successful completion of the project. Sandy had no formal training as an archaeologist, but his considerable energy and intellect resulted in him becoming a leading figure in Mesa Verde-region archaeology. After stepping down as Executive Director in 1991, he remained a valued colleague to all of us on the Crow Canyon research staff and eventually rejoined the Center as the Director of Research in 1995. As Director of Research, Sandy provided the leadership that resulted in our institutional commitment to the electronic publication of the Testing Program results. Sandy died in April 1998 after a year-long battle with cancer. We miss him a great deal, but he is always in our thoughts.