SOME EARLY PUEBLO REMAINS IN EASTERN 



ARIZONA 



By FRANK H. H. ROBERTS, JR. 

 Archeologist, Bureau of American Ethnology 



The remains of three house groups belonging to the initial and 

 following stages of the early Pueblo peoples were uncovered by the 

 writer during the months of June, July, and August, 1932. The in- 

 vestigations were conducted at a site 3^ miles south of Allantown 

 in eastern Arizona and were a continuation of a program of excava- 

 tions started in the summer of 193 1. 1 The village and house remains 

 located at this place present an unusual opportunity for studying the 

 changes which occurred over a long period of time in the cultural 

 growth of the pre-Spanish sedentary southwestern Indians. There 

 are vestiges of four distinct and sequent phases of development in- 

 corporated in the site and the stages represented embrace those in 

 which the most significant steps in the social advance were taken. The 

 1931 work was limited to the lower two levels, and that of the 1932 

 season centered around two house groups belonging to the second 

 horizon and one representative of the third. The first or oldest level in 

 the site is typical of the phase which has been called Basket Maker III, 

 and the three subsequent ones are characteristic of the stages denoted 

 Pueblo I, II, and III. 



The dwellings of the second level, Pueblo I, were of the semi- 

 subterranean type in which the major portion consisted of a pit, 

 roughly circular in form, which was dug into the earth (fig. 65). The 

 walls of the excavation in one of the examples were faced with a 

 thick coating of adobe plaster, while in the other some stones were 

 used. The superstructures were formed of heavy timbers, poles, 

 brush, and plaster. They were supported by upright posts set in the 

 floors of each chamber and were elevated above the ground level suffi- 

 ciently to provide proper drainage. An opening near the center of 

 the roof served as a smoke hole. In one of the structures entrance to 

 the chamber was gained by means of a ladder passing through this 

 smoke hole. In the other house the ladder was placed in a small ante- 

 chamber, and access to the main room was through a narrow, covered 

 passage. These houses correspond closely to other Pueblo I structures 



'Explorations and Field-work of the Smithsonian Institution in 1931, pp. 

 141-150. 1932. 



65 



