Site Overview

Site Number

5MT5

History of the Site Name

Site is named for one of the canyons that bound the site. The canyon was named for the yellow jacket wasps that frequent its springs.

Other Names

Name Comment
Sourouaro Prudden 1900*1:3
Square Mug House Hurst and Lotrich 1932*1:195; this name referred only to the architectural block that Crow Canyon called the "great tower compex."
Surouara Holmes 1981*1:401
Surouaro Newberry 1876*1:88-89
Yellow Jacket Ruin Lange et al. 1986*1:14-15
Yellow Jacket Ruins Prudden 1900*1:3
Yellow Jacket Spring Ruin Fewkes 1919*1:16-17
Yellowjacket Pueblo The Archaeological Conservancy The Archaeological Conservancy
Yellowjacket Ruin Wheat 1984*1:61

Site Type

Habitation (with public architecture)

Site Boundary Description

The east boundary is the bottom of an adjacent canyon. The west boundary is formed by the bottom of a separate drainage. The south boundary is formed by the confluence of the creeks in those two drainages. The north boundary is formed by a concentration of cultural material that was originally recorded as Site 5MT5771. The northeast boundary is formed by a line between the great tower complex and Site 5MT5771.

Site Size

Approximately 100 acres

Site Composition and Layout

Site is composed of one- and two-story rubble mounds, kiva depressions, a great kiva depression, midden areas, dams, canyon-rim features, a possible Chacoan great house and roads, and petroglyphs. Mapping and testing of the site resulted in the following minimum estimates of the cultural features at the site: 42 roomblocks, 195 kivas, many midden areas, one great kiva, 18 towers, one biwall tower kiva, five dams, one large reservoir, three petroglyphs, two monoliths (one of which is still standing), and numerous extramural walls and features. Much of the site is on an upland promontory of land shaped by two converging drainages. Roomblocks are generally oriented east-west, although two large roomblocks that border a large reservoir near the south end of the promontory are oriented northeast-southwest. The great kiva and the possible Chacoan great house associated with it are near the north end of the site. A generally north-south trending swale through the center of the site could indicate a road associated with the great house and kiva. A late, canyon-rim great house is situated near the east edge of the site. Rubble mounds, rubble scatter, and artifacts are also present on the talus slopes below the canyon rim on the east, south, and west sides of the promontory. Also included in this site is architecture within an overhang below the east canyon rim originally recorded as Site 5MT7.

Cultural Affiliation and Date Range of Occupation

Mesa Verde ancestral Pueblo Indian, approximately A.D. 1060 to 1280 (late Pueblo II and Pueblo III)

General Location

14 miles northwest of Cortez, along Colorado Highway 491 (formerly Highway 666), Montezuma County

Ownership, Stewardship

Large portion owned by The Archaeological Conservancy; remainder owned by other private landowners}

Years of Crow Canyon Excavation

April 1995 through October 1997

Percent Excavated by Crow Canyon

.04 percent.

Permits

State of Colorado Archaeological Permits were obtained to conduct archaeological excavations

Permits Comment
95-42 State of Colorado Permit to conduct archaeological excavations
96-1 State of Colorado Permit to conduct archaeological excavations
97-20 State of Colorado Permit to conduct archaeological excavations