The Sand Canyon Pueblo Database

Block 100, north end of site, just west of drainage.

Below Arbitrary Unit 112, in east "wing" of Block 100. North of, and adjacent to, Structure 102; between Structures 104 and 106.

Storage room.

It is not clear with which kiva this room is associated. No clear evidence of how this structure was used, although the floor slopes and the room contains neither hearth nor firepit. Thus, it is unlikely that the room was used extensively for domestic activities. Few artifacts were found on the floor (a few partial vessels and a mano). However, several bedrock features (grooves and depressions) had been abraded into the portion of the floor that was formed by bedrock. These features apparently resulted from the manufacture or maintenance of ground-stone tools. The room might thus have doubled as a work room and a storage room. The walls contain no evidence of a doorway; access thus was probably through a hatchway in the roof. A portion of Vessel 25 (a Mesa Verde Black-on-white kiva jar) was found on or near the floor and in the fill of Structure 105; other portions of this vessel were found in Niche 25 in Structure 116 (kiva corner room), in the upper fill and roof fall of Structure 107 (kiva), in two pit features in Structure 107, and in the fill of Structure 102 (kiva). The distribution of these sherds could be interpreted as evidence that these structures were used by one residence group, as evidence of ritual distribution of these sherds, as evidence of a violent abandonment event in which vessels became broken and scattered, or any combination of the above.

The roof was not burned. The abandonment of this structure included the careless deposition of an adult male body on the bedrock portion of the floor. This individual had suffered a large, lethal depression fracture that was caused by a blow to the head. Although he might have been killed in this room, it is more likely that his body was dropped through a hatchway in the roof. The absence of culturally deposited material in the structure fill suggests that this event occurred at the same time as other structures in this area of Block 100 were abandoned. Probably associated with this event are the disarticulated remains of a young woman found on the floor of Structure 107, the disarticulated remains of an adolescent and at least one adult on the floor of Structure 108 (kiva) and in other locations (Structures 116 and 118), and the scattered human remains in other locations in adjacent structures (Structures 101, 102 ). There is no evidence to indicate that any of the individuals represented were formally buried. These circumstances of abandonment suggest that this structure and kiva suite were abandoned as a result of a violent event in which at least some of the residents of these structures were killed and not formally buried.

Upper portion of the structure collapsed naturally.

No excavation details recorded for this study unit.