Preliminary report on the 1937 excavations, Bc 50-51, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, with some distributional analyses | ||
Substructure 4
Form.—The floor plan was irregularly rectangular.
Walls and Wall Sequence.—The foundation consisted of flat
stone slabs placed on edge. Above this the walls were of solid adobe
with unshaped stones occasionally included. A heavy layer of plaster
was applied over the entire wall, including the slab base. On the east,
south, and west walls remaining plaster covered the majority of the
surface. On the north wall little remained.
Overlying the east wall, and extending 3′ north from the southeast
corner, was a wall of masonry type assigned by Dr. Hawley to
Pueblo II (see description of room 21 for further details). The other
walls were topped by a windblown sandy deposition of natural source.
Two feet four inches from the southeast corner of the east wall the
plaster rounded a corner to form the side of a doorway of undeterminable
height and width.
Roofing.—No evidence of roofing was found with the exception
of one piece of hardened adobe, flattened on one side and rounded
on the other. It bore the imprint of sticks of 1″ diameter which were
laid in parallel lines.
Floors and Floor Sequence.—The floor level sloped from south to
north, the latter end being about 1′ lower than the former. The floor
surfacing was irregular, with sherds and rocks protruding through
the surface. The room contained no special features such as firepits,
post holes, or bins. Only one floor was apparent.
1. Upper layer of natural deposition.—This was probably due to
wind and rain action.2. Hard unamalgamated fill.—This began at an average depth of
2′ 9″ from the top of the east wall and extended to 3′ 5″ from the
top of the south wall and sloped correspondingly toward the north
end of the room. Instead of hard, continuous fill this layer included
many vacant spaces or cavities seeming to indicate former
positions of caved-in roof material, although no tangible evidence
such as rafters or bark was found.[3] This layer included no
sherds but contained occasional thin flat slabs of stone and the
piece of imprinted adobe mentioned above.3. Loose sand fill.—For 6″ above the floor level, this contained many
sherds and the majority of artifacts taken from the room.4. Floor level.
Room Fill.
Burials.—None.
Animal Bones.—Comparatively few.
Artifacts.—Six smoothing stones, two manos, one bone awl.
Floor Level | Room Fill | |
Red Mesa B on W | 38.05 | 15.01 |
Lino Gray | 30.32 | 32.22 |
Exuberant Cor. | 15.43 | 3.00 |
Kana-a Gray | 5.88 | 7.89 |
Escavada B on W | 4.25 | 35.07 |
Gallup B on W | 2.66 | 4.58 |
Wingate B on R | 2.66 | .15 |
Chaco B on W | 1.06 | .15 |
Deadman's B on R | .94 | |
Chaco Cor. | .32 | |
Kana-a B on W | .32 | |
Sunset Red | .15 | |
Total number of sherds in sample | 188 | 633 |
Preliminary report on the 1937 excavations, Bc 50-51, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, with some distributional analyses | ||