Castle Rock Pueblo

5MT1825

Site was named for the butte on which, and around the base of which, the village was built.

Habitation (with public architecture)

Site is bounded by exposed bedrock to the south, by a stream channel to the north. To the east and west the site is defined by the absence of artifacts and features.

1.88 acres (.76 hectares)

The site is composed of rubble mounds, kiva depressions, midden areas, standing structure walls and site-enclosing walls, a preserved log floor, possible plaza areas, and petroglyphs. The remains of two stone-and-earth dams are located 40 m north of the site in an arroyo; these dams are not within the site boundaries but were probably associated with the village. Mapping and testing of the site resulted in the following minimum estimates of the number of structures at the site: 16 kivas, one oversized kiva, 40 rooms, nine possible towers, a D-shaped enclosure, and in addition, there are numerous sections of retaining and enclosing walls. The layout of the site (see map) includes structures on top of the butte, on a ledge partway up the north face of the butte, on a large boulder south of the butte, and on the talus slope around the northwest, southwest, and southeast base of the butte. Most roomblocks were butted against the butte face, with kivas just downslope from the roomblocks. Numerous retaining walls and architectural terracing walls are on the downslope sides of the kivas. Most middens are downslope from kivas. Sections of site-enclosing wall are present around the perimeter of the site. (See also Architecture and Settlement Organization interpretive sections of the site report)

McElmo Canyon, 12 miles west of State Highway 491 (formerly Highway 666) on County Road G (McElmo Road), Cortez, Colorado (Montezuma County)

U.S. Government, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Canyon of the Ancients National Monument}

1990-1994

5 percent

Permits to conduct excavations and to place a temporary laboratory trailer and portable toilet near the site were issued to Crow Canyon Archaeological Center by the Bureau of Land Management, San Juan Resource Area Office, Durango, Colorado. Excavation was conducted under the authority of Federal Antiquities and Cultural Resource Use permits, and permission for the trailer and portable toilet was given under Land Use permits.