Stevenson Area Research Domains
ResearchBy Mark D. Mitchell and Richard H. Wilshusen
Although little was known about the Basketmaker III occupation of the Mesa Verde region when Wheat began his investigation of the Stevenson area, more recent work in the Yellow Jacket locality and adjacent areas provides a context for interpreting his results and for designing additional research using the CU Museum's Yellow Jacket Collection. In this section the archaeology of nearby Basketmaker III sites is briefly reviewed and three key research domains are discussed that might be useful for future research using the Stevenson collections.
Late Basketmaker III Settlements in the Montezuma Valley
Research conducted over the last 20 years has identified a large number of Basketmaker III settlements within 20 kilometers of 5MT1, many of which were established during the last half of the seventh century (Wilshusen 1999a:Table 6-1Wilshusen, Richard H.
1999a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750). In Colorado Prehistory: A Context for Southern Colorado Drainage Basin, pp. 166-195, edited by William D. Lipe, Mark D. Varien, and Richard H. Wilshusen. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.). In the immediate vicinity, some of the better documented sites include Shallow House (5MT8822), which dates to the 680s; Dos Bobos Hamlet (5MT8837) (Kuckelman and Morris 1988Kuckelman, Kristin A. and James N. Morris
1988 Archaeological Investigations on South Canal. Four Corners Archaeological Project Report 11. Complete Archaeological Service Associates, Cortez, Colorado.); Knobby Knee Stockade (5MT2525), which was occupied between about A.D. 600 and A.D. 665 (Morris 1991Morris, James N.
1991 Archaeological Excavations on the Hovenweep Laterals. Four Corners Archaeological Project Report 16. Complete Archaeological Service Associates, Cortez, Colorado.); and 5MT9949, which dates to the 690s (Hungerford, Merewether, and Robinson 2002Hungerford, Dierdre J., Josephine A. Merewether, and Christine K. Robinson
2002 5MT9949: A Basketmaker III Habitation Site, In The Puebloan Occupation of the Ute Mountain Piedmont, Vol. 2: Single Component Basketmaker III and Middle Pueblo II Habitation Sites, edited by Christine K. Robinson, pp. 2.1-2.34. Soil Systems Publications in Archaeology Vol. 22, no. 2. Phoenix, Arizona.). Numerous other late Basketmaker III homesteads and hamlets are known from the Monument-McElmo and Dolores areas, many of which were partially or entirely contemporaneous with the Stevenson area of 5MT1.
Late Basketmaker III Architectural Variability
Chronological and stratigraphic data from the Stevenson area indicate that the morphological differences among the four principal habitation structures are not a product of temporal differences. Similar variability in the size and form of domestic structures also has been observed at other nearby sites. For example, several decades ago it was assumed that the presence or absence of antechambers on pitstructures was a very accurate temporal indicator. Yet pitstructures with and without antechambers appear to have been occupied contemporaneously at Knobby Knee Stockade (Morris 1991Morris, James N.
1991 Archaeological Excavations on the Hovenweep Laterals. Four Corners Archaeological Project Report 16. Complete Archaeological Service Associates, Cortez, Colorado.), and contemporaneous mid- to late-seventh century pitstructures without antechambers have been documented at other sites in the region (Wilshusen 1999a:178Wilshusen, Richard H.
1999a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750). In Colorado Prehistory: A Context for Southern Colorado Drainage Basin, pp. 166-195, edited by William D. Lipe, Mark D. Varien, and Richard H. Wilshusen. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.). Regionally, pitstructure size varies by an order of magnitude, ranging from less than 10 to more than 100 square meters.
Significant morphological and functional variation also has been observed in associated work and storage rooms. Like those of the Stevenson area some contain domestic floor features while others do not. Regionally, such pit rooms may be slightly smaller than those of the Stevenson area (Wilshusen 1999a:178Wilshusen, Richard H.
1999a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750). In Colorado Prehistory: A Context for Southern Colorado Drainage Basin, pp. 166-195, edited by William D. Lipe, Mark D. Varien, and Richard H. Wilshusen. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.). The number of pit rooms associated with each pitstructure also varies considerably; the ratio documented for the Stevenson area may be among the highest in the region. The frequency, size and layout of other types of structures, such as ramadas, are equally variable.
If these formal differences are not always necessarily due to temporal differences, to what can they be attributed? They may be indicative of cultural differences among the Basketmaker III communities of the Mesa Verde region, perhaps reflecting their divergent origins. They may also reflect the different economic roles of different settlements within a local community. Because data are available for a large number of contemporaneous Basketmaker III settlements, it should be possible to begin to answer some of these questions.
Late Basketmaker III Community Organization
The issue of contemporaneous architectural variation leads directly to questions about the social organization of Basketmaker III hamlets and, in turn, to questions about the social organization of local communities (Wilshusen 1999a:194Wilshusen, Richard H.
1999a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750). In Colorado Prehistory: A Context for Southern Colorado Drainage Basin, pp. 166-195, edited by William D. Lipe, Mark D. Varien, and Richard H. Wilshusen. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.). How culturally or economically homogenous were Basketmaker III settlements and communities? For the Stevenson area, the extreme size disparity between Pitstructure 1 and Pitstructure 3 suggests that the resources available to their residents were equally disparate. Or, such differences may have been the result of differences in family size, or in length of tenure. The symmetrical arrangement of pitstructures and roomblocks of the Stevenson area may indicate that larger Basketmaker III hamlets were composed of more than one social unit, but how such units were distributed among contemporaneous settlements is not known.
The presence of large hamlets, such as the Stevenson area of 5MT1, suggests that they may have acted as "nodes" or central places at which a wider range of activities were carried out. Did multi-habitation hamlets function differently than single-habitation homesteads? How did settlements of different sizes interact with one another? Do differences in size or form among contemporaneous settlements indicate cultural differences among the community's members? A careful comparison of artifact assemblages associated with settlements of different sizes and forms may provide insight into these issues.
Basketmaker III Immigration
As Wilshusen (1999a:193Wilshusen, Richard H.
1999a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-750). In Colorado Prehistory: A Context for Southern Colorado Drainage Basin, pp. 166-195, edited by William D. Lipe, Mark D. Varien, and Richard H. Wilshusen. Colorado Council of Professional Archaeologists, Denver.) notes, the number of Basketmaker III settlements in the Mesa Verde region increased dramatically during the late 500s and the 600s. This increase appears largely to have been due to immigration, although the regions from which this emigration took place are not known. However, by the time the Stevenson area settlement was established in the late 600s a substantial resident population must have been in place. Were the Basketmaker III inhabitants of 5MT1 newcomers or had their ancestors lived in the Mesa Verde region for some time? Can specific technological attributes of the Stevenson area ceramic or chipped stone assemblages be traced to distant regions? Does the presence of distinctive raw materials or ceramic vessels suggest social or economic links to those same regions? These are all questions that might be addressed with collections-based research.