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Tamatha Norment-Smith 4 July 1999 |
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Mineral Creek Pueblo is small to medium-sized pueblo consisting of a rectangular block of about 12 masonry rooms and a Great Kiva situated atop a high bank (Figure 1). On the basis of the ceramic assemblage, Martin et al (1961:142) estimates an occupation date somewhere between A.D. 1000 - 1200. |
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Figure 1: Map showing the location of Mineral Creek Pueblo |
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| EXCAVATION STRATEGY Mineral Creek Pueblo was excavated as part of an effort to determine where the Mogollon had gone after leaving the Reserve, New Mexico, area in the 13th century. Martin et al (1961:17) excavated six pueblo rooms in 1958 and a Great Kiva and four test trenches (A, B, C, and D) in 1959. There is no explicit discussion of the excavation strategy either in the excavation forms or in the site report (Martin, Rinaldo, and Longacre 1961), though it is clear from the subsite information that each room was trenched before fill was removed. It is not clear if the excavation proceeded in arbitrary levels or if fill was removed en masse, but the subsite provenience information differentiates between trench, floor, and fill assemblages so it is unlikely that arbitrary levels were used. Only one room, Room 4, was though to have burned. A portion of the pueblo remains unexcavated; the map suggests that additional rooms are present to the south, east, and west. Excavation Records Department of Anthropology Archives Southwest Expedition Box SW 12, Folder 2 ("J.B. Rinaldo 1959 Season Field Notes Mineral Creek Hooper Ranch) contains excavation records for Mineral Creek Pueblo. Included are archaeological record sheets for the Great Kiva and Rooms 1 - 5. Excavation forms were not recorded or are missing for Room 6, which photographs (Neg. No. 96670, Volume 35AA) and maps (Martin et al 1961:19) indicate was only partially excavated (Figure 2). No records exist for the 1959 test trench excavations. |
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Figure 2: Negative # 96670 |
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Accession Files
Accession File 2631 in the Department of Anthropology indicates that 26,000 sherds, 48 restorable pottery vessels, and 603 stone, bone, and shell artifacts were returned to the Museum by the 1958 Southwest Archaeological Expedition. No additional information is offered, and most of these probably come from Table Rock Pueblo, which was also excavated in 1958. Accession File 2659 lists the following collections returned by the 1959 Southwest Archaeological Expedition: 8000 sherds 1212 stone, bone, and shell artifacts 4 skeletons 25 restorable vessels 429 stone artifacts left in field. |
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