Range Creek

Check out the Range Creek YouTube video at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evqkZwXS7N4

This year we are excavating two Fremont archaeological sites in Range Creek, in addition to discovering and recording new sites. The first site we will be investigating is a small, high elevation farming village site that my crews recorded near the main road. When we discovered this site we documented the remains of at least three pithouses, prehistoric ceramics, lithic and ground stone artifacts, and a chipped stone hoe probably used for farming. This year we will be investigating one of the cultural feature that appears to be a collapsed, approximately1000 year-old home with artifacts and charcoal eroding out from what may have been a stone masonry and adobe wall. This will be a small and difficult test excavation to determine the extent and nature of cultural deposits and to date the site. The remains are so subtle that the site is very difficult to see, and most people walk by this location without noticing any archaeological remains. Some even complain that we are "hiding" the sites. In addition to excavating the pithouse, we will also be putting in one or two small test units off-site to try to find evidence of maize fields nearby-- by taking samples for microscopic traces of farming activities, such as pollen, phytoliths and starches.

The second site is a large farming village in the middle of the canyon with the remains of at least a dozen structures including many pithouses and several circular stone masonry structures. We will be excavating portions of several of these structures to determine the function of each, to date the site, and to answer research questions about prehistoric diet (e.g., Which crops were farmed? Which wild seeds and berries were collected? Which animals were hunted?), farming and foraging strategies, storage practices within farming villages, exchange/trade networks between different Fremont groups and their Anasazi neighbors to the south, and overall social and political complexity approximately 800-900 years ago in Range Creek, in the AD 1100s. We will also be sampling several test units near this site to identify farming areas and find out about Fremont agricultural practices.

Stay tuned for more...