UNM 2013 Fall Field School - Day 3 at Chaco

By Priscilla Aguilera

We started our day early, as always, and warmed up for the day by clearing the vegetation that was growing on a historic Navajo Hogan site. The exercise was welcome, as the sun was still hiding in the horizon and the temperature in the 30s F. We went on to get ready for the day at our excavation sites when we were told that we would be visiting Pueblo Bonito (right next door to the Wetherill site that we are working at). We entered an area in the northwestern part of the site and were met by park workmen. They explained to us that they were working on installing a pipe (top left hand corner of the picture) in order to drain water that was pooling in certain areas and damaging the site. Much work is required to maintain archaeological sites like Pueblo Bonito safe from the elements and accessible to visitors. The workmen then told us about a room in that same area that was accessible. We were invited to look at the room, and we eagerly accepted the invitation. With flashlight in hand, I entered the 1000-year-old room. The floor was packed neatly, and the walls were covered in dark, soot-like stains that went up to a ceiling composed with long, wooden beams that were burnt. They were labeled with numbers that indicated that dendrochronological samples were taken from them. I imagined the things that may have taken place in that room and the people who might have built it. But more than that, I wanted to know what had happened, and that is why archaeology is so amazing. With archaeological methods and data, we can do more than imagine, we can discover.  

But our day only began there. We went back to our unit at the Wetherill site and resumed our excavations from the day before. The temperature had risen to a more comfortable level and my partner Steve Bennett and I worked quickly and methodically to level our unit. Before long, we began to find bits of wood in the area were working on. Steven exclaimed excitedly that we had found wood planks. I went over to look; the area he pointed to was reddish and obviously different from the rest of the unit surface material. Upon close inspection it was easy to see the wood grain and fiber emerging from the ground. We had come upon wood that had lain buried for over 100 years and had been amazingly preserved in the dry climate of Chaco Canyon. We spent the rest of our day leveling the rest of the unit in order to determine how far the wood extended without exposing too much of it (it dries and deteriorates quickly once exposed to the air). We found metal fragments, prehistoric ceramics, glass, and even some material that looked like it had been used to seal windows. Eventually we discovered that the wood extended throughout the unit and had to suspend the unit in order to consider our next steps. But whatever happens, now we know that the people who lived at the Wetherill site put in wood planks at some point; we don’t have to just imagine anymore.