U.S. Rep. John Salazar praised the efforts of federal, state and private groups, including University of Colorado at Boulder faculty and student archaeologists, who are working together to investigate and restore the Chimney Rock Archaeological Area near Pagosa Springs, Colo. The site is considered one of the most spectacular Ancestral Pueblo ruins in all of the Southwest.
Salazar toured Chimney Rock, believed to be an important religious and ceremonial center for the Pueblo people 1,000 years ago, on June 30. The 4,100-acre Chimney Rock Archaeological Area features two spectacular rock pinnacles, a Pueblo Great House, a ceremonial Great Kiva and a variety of other stone structures. The site is located at an altitude of 7,800 feet, high above the valley floor, and appears to have been sacred to the Pueblo elite who likely watched the moon periodically rise between the rock pinnacles.
Salazar, who visited with the CU-Boulder research team, said he wanted to get a first-hand look at the work archaeologists are doing at the site. Salazar helped to secure federal funding to preserve the Chimney Rock site through a congressional appropriations bill passed in December 2007. Salazar said Congress is studying Chimney Rock for possible designation as a national monument.
The CU-Boulder team of five graduate students is led by CU-Boulder anthropology Professor Steve Lekson and doctoral student Brenda Todd. Lekson is one of the world's top experts on Southwest archaeology and curator of anthropology at the CU Museum of Natural History.
The CU-Boulder team excavated parts of two rooms adjacent to the Great Kiva and recovered a number of artifacts, including pottery, stone tools and ancient corn, wood and animal bones. The researchers are assessing the importance of Chimney Rock as an outlier of the powerful Chaco culture that dominated the Southwest for several hundred years.
The CU-Boulder archaeological project began June 1 and will be completed July 5.
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