Yellow Jacket Project

Kiva B, Porter Area, Site 5MT1 in the Joe Ben Wheat Site Complex (SL-YJ-118)

When Joe Ben Wheat began excavating a Basketmaker III site in southwestern Colorado in 1954 he initiated a series of investigations at three pueblo sites that would only be concluded in 1991. These residential sites had occupations dating between AD 600 and 1300 and were just to the southwest of Yellow Jacket Pueblo (5MT5), the largest prehistoric site in the Mesa Verde region. Over the years a total of 21 archaeological field schools were held at the sites and a collection of close to 300,000 artifacts resulted from this research.

Dr. Wheat died in 1997 before he could complete his analyses and reports of his investigations. In 2004 the University of Colorado Museum began a yearlong project to rehouse and reinventory the collections as well as to produce preliminary reports of these investigations. This web site represents an initial step to make this research and these collections better known to researchers and the general public. Basic reports for sites 5MT1, 2, and 3 are available, as well as summary information on the field schools, Joe Ben Wheat's work at the site, and the Museum's archaeological artifact collections.

This effort has been generously supported by grants from Colorado's State Historical Fund, the Archaeological Conservancy, and the estate of Joe Ben Wheat, as well as matching funds from the University of Colorado. Original excavations were made possible with the permission and support of Hod Stevenson, Charles Porter, the Wilson family, and later Jack Hawkins and Joe Tipton. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, John Cater, Sandy Karhu, and Jeannette Mobley-Tanaka all kindly gave permission to reproduce particular figures and photographs in the report.