<\/p>\n
The discoveries are seemingly endless at Indian Camp Ranch, considered the only subdivision in the nation designed to incorporate ancestral ruins on each parcel.<\/p>\n
Again last month, archaeologists from Crow Canyon revealed a new finding, this time at Jane Dillard\u2019s lot, who has a front-row seat for the excavation taking place in her sagebrush yard.<\/p>\n
Archaeologist Shanna Diederichs and her team have figured out that a series of dwellings in the area called the Switchback site marks the beginning of a more permanent settlement for Ancestral Puebloan culture from 500-750 AD.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe data shows this is when settlements began to focus on larger-scale agriculture. It is a transitioning period from mostly hunting and gathering to a farming society that supports a permanent community year-round,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Groups of pit dwellings appear to be used as workhouses where early farmers escaped the heat, stored tools and grain, and grabbed a bite before returning to the fields. Sound familiar?<\/p>\n
Local farming roots go back millennia, attracted by nutrient-rich red soils and sunny climate that continue to produce crops today.<\/p>\n
Pottery sherds at Switchback are more basic early designs, lacking the black-on-white style and creativity associated with vessels from later, more established settlements that had more free time.<\/p>\n
Geophysical surveys by the PBS archaeology series Time Team America helped to pinpoint where to dig to reveal the dwellings and mysteries of the pre-Colombian societies at Indian Camp.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere we\u2019re seeing a new era, the beginning of the agricultural economy, and the end of the Neolithic,\u201d Diederichs says.<\/p>\n
The site is from the Basketmaker III time period, approximately 1,500 years ago.<\/p>\n
A square pit that was once a partially underground dwelling supported by still discernible logs has been excavated eight feet down. Archaeologists Steve Copeland and Caitlin Sommer carefully scrape away layers with trowels and brushes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hollow,\u201d Copeland suddenly exclaims, prodding at a corner of the ancient underground portion of the dwelling. A buzz of excitement ensues and the archaeologists speak in their peculiar code, trying to work out what it could be.<\/p>\n
A capstone covers an enclosed wall chamber, hidden for more than a thousand years, and about to be revealed.<\/p>\n
But it seems the pace to remove the dirt is grain by grain, and it is time to leave and wonder about its contents, probably nothing, but perhaps a vessel of seeds, or a fetish, or a family heirloom from the ancestors of the Puebloan people that live on today at Hopi, Santa Clara, and Acoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving here you feel a presence from the past; it is very comforting,\u201d Dillard says. \u201cFinding a secret chamber is what makes it so fun.\u201d<\/p>\n