Crew at Big Springs

The Kaibab National Forest Heritage Team hosted its 12th Passports in Time (PIT) project from Sept. 17-22, 2000. The project focused on documenting large Pueblo II sites found by Volunteer Einar Ericson on the North Kaibab Ranger District. Previously, archeologists had conducted little work in this area until Ericson notified the Forest about his significant findings in the woods. During the project, archeologists and PIT volunteers recorded 20 large C-shaped Pueblos with possible kivas. One of the project's goals was to make small collections of pottery samples which will be analyzed by Arizona Strip archeologists to determine if pottery is being made locally. The other main goal was to narrow down the dating period of the sites by closely examining the pottery design styles.

Most of the sites dated to the Pueblo II period (AD 1000-1100). Volunteers found pottery types such as Black Mesa, Dogoszhi and Sosi Black-on-Whites, North Creek Black-on-Gray, Shinarump Corrugated, North Creek Corrugated, Tusayan Corrugated and Moenkopi Corrugated. Interestingly, a locally made red ware seems to take the place of San Juan red wares. Tusayan Black-on-red sherds are the most commonly found Tsegi orange ware. The lithic assemblage at most sites was quite remarkable with tools literally covering the ground. The debitage represented a myriad of material types from cherts and obsidians to beautiful jaspers. We are looking foward to more Ericson sites in the future!