University of Virginia Library

Substructure or Pueblo I

It was soon discovered after excavation had progressed to some
extent, that the main pueblo, which was designated as Pueblo II, had
been built on the mound of an earlier structure. In addition to this
general information, it was soon ascertained that the Pueblo II structure
did not cover entirely the mound beneath, but was built for the
most part on top of and to the east of this mound. That area lying to
the north and west of Rooms 2, 11, 20 and 22 of the superstructure
was found to contain several rooms of a building of a date
prior to that of the one which has been described above, and these
rooms were unencumbered by any later structure built upon them. It
is perhaps to be supposed that the growth of the Pueblo II structure was
from the central section and the east side towards the west, and that
this growth was never completed so as to cover all of the mound beneath.
All of these structures beneath the Pueblo II superstructure,
are here designated as substructures and numbered according to rooms.
Three such were excavated on the western and northern side of the
pueblo mound.

In addition to the substructures which appeared on the northwestern
side of the pueblo, it became evident that the entire Pueblo II
superstructure had been built upon the remains or mound of an earlier
edifice. This, of course, is shown along the western walls of Rooms
2, 20, and 22, where it appears that the walls of the Pueblo
II bear no relation to the walls of the substructure beneath and that
the substructure was evidently a mound with weathered walls and
filled-in rooms before the superstructure was ever built upon it. This
filling in of the substructure may or may not have been intentional.
The stratigraphical evidence from the fill of these rooms, however,
shows a combination of water-laid and aeolian fill mingled with the
crumbled debris of the peculiar masonry so as to indicate a quite
natural disintegration of this substructure, representing an unconformity
of some duration of time.

The walls of the substructure, immediately below the Pueblo II
structure, bore no relation to the walls of the superimposed structure,
and, furthermore, were of a much different type. It is also worthy of

note that the floor levels of the Pueblo II superstructure were by no
means on an even level. It would appear that the superimposed pueblo
was built upon an earlier one which was also a rounded mound with
the apex somewhere under Rooms 7 and 10. This high point
was somewhat to the south of the apex of the latter or final mound.
In the light of all this evidence, as well as the abundant shard material,
it may be assumed that this substructure is Pueblo I in date.