About forty years ago the postmaster of Spargo, Colo- 

 rado, Mr. Courtney Dow, wrote that he would Hke to show 

 me a large and unique ruin, perched on the rim of Cow 

 Canyon in southwestern Colorado. 



I visited the site in the company of Mr. Dow and found 

 that it was large, interesting and untouched. I also noted 

 that it included a Great Kiva — which made it unique for 

 this area for, at that time. Great Kivas were known mostly 

 from an area called Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. And here 

 was one some 200 miles away from the homeland of such 

 great ceremonial structures! 



That fact aroused my curiosity about this site. Many 

 questions came to mind, the most obvious one being "was 

 there a relationship between the Great Kiva at Lowry 

 Pueblo and those to the south and east?"' 



Left, Lowry Pueblo as it appeared forty years ago, when 



the author began to dig. Below, restored Lowry Pueblo, 



a National Historical Landmark. The two photographs 



were taken from nearly the same spot. 



We spent four seasons at Lowry Pueblo, 1930-34, and 

 excavated 37 dwelling rooms, eight kivas and the Great 

 Kiva, or about 95 percent of the site. We were shot at by 

 a homesteader who thought we were stealing his gold treas- 

 ure (sic) ! We endured snows, rains, floods, and droughts; 

 we operated on a budget that was modest indeed (one 

 year it was $1,000); we weathered a depression; and yet 

 we got a lot done. During our last season, we received 

 heaven-sent help in the form of labor from the County 

 Emergency Relief Administration (later W.P.A.). 



What are some of the results of those four years of 

 digging and research: 



The site on which the pueblo was built is a knoll over- 

 looking a small canyon at the bottom of which was formerly 

 a small, permanent stream fed by springs. On clear days, 

 to the southwest one can see the odd formations of sand- 

 stone that give their name to Monument Valley. 



Sometime about A. D. 500-700, a group of farmer In- 

 dians settled on this knoll and dug their abodes, called pit 

 houses, in the virgin clay. Several such subterranean struc- 

 tures were encountered beneath the walls and floors of the 

 later town and below the floors of kivas, which are them- 

 selves also subterranean. Pottery and tools of stone and 

 bone were found still present on these most ancient and 

 earliest floors. 



It seems likely that these first comers remained at the 

 site, for it had many advantages to an incipient farmer folk 

 and would not lightly be relinquished. 



Lowry Pueblo 



Then and Now 



by Paul S. Martin, Chief Curator Emeritus, Anthropology 



APRIL Page 7 



