{"id":74088,"date":"2019-08-23T16:47:08","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T22:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trove-of-archaeological-ruins-unearthed-south-of-durango\/"},"modified":"2019-08-23T22:47:08","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T22:47:08","slug":"trove-of-archaeological-ruins-unearthed-south-of-durango","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trove-of-archaeological-ruins-unearthed-south-of-durango\/","title":{"rendered":"Trove of archaeological ruins unearthed south of Durango"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Researchers
Researchers have found an extensive site of Native American ruins on top of Florida Mesa as part of the realignment of U.S. Highway 550 south of Durango. Archaeologists have only a few months to study the site before highway constructions begins.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A large, extensive network of Native American ruins was recently discovered just outside Durango on top of Florida Mesa, and it\u2019s kind of blowing archaeologists\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an archaeologist with 30-plus years\u2019 experience, I\u2019m really excited by it,\u201d said Dan Jepson, a cultural resource manager for the Colorado Department of Transportation. \u201cThis research is a wonderful opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robin Cordero, a human osteologist with the University of New Mexico, is helping analyze human and animal bones collected on the site. He can\u2019t wait to get to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe preservation there is just exquisite,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a dream site to work on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Wilshusen has surveyed hundreds of Native American ruins in his 40 years as an archaeologist. The size and scope of the site impressed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is blowing people away is they didn\u2019t think the site would be nearly as big as it is,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s only a short window, however, for archaeologists.<\/p>\n

The ruins were discovered as part of the surveying for the realignment of the U.S. Highway 550 interchange, to connect the \u201cBridge to Nowhere\u201d to somewhere. Road construction will destroy the site, but not before researchers try to unlock its mysteries.<\/p>\n

\"Researchers
Researchers have found an extensive site of Native American ruins on top of Florida Mesa as part of the realignment of U.S. Highway 550 south of Durango. Archaeologists have only a few months to study the site before highway constructions begins.<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Some \u2018remarkable structures\u2019<\/p>\n

To prepare for population growth in Durango, it was decided years ago that U.S. 550\u2019s route south of Durango to the top of Florida Mesa, known as Farmington Hill, was too steep and dangerous for increased traffic and would have to be improved.<\/p>\n

The proposed $100 million solution was to create an interchange farther east of Durango, with roundabouts and bridges that would travel to a flatter grade on Florida Mesa, requiring at least 2 miles of new road across mostly private land.<\/p>\n

As part of federal and state laws, CDOT, the agency leading the project, was required to survey the proposed road\u2019s footprint, mostly on farmland, for any historic or archaeological site before construction could begin.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Colorado Department of Transportation intends to break ground in spring 2020 for the final phase of the realignment of U.S. Highway 550, south of Durango.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For years, surveyors suspected the area was rich with Native American artifacts for years, but several delays with the interchange project staved off the research that requires a full-scale archaeological dig.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until last fall and this spring that the extent of the site was realized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the mystery of archaeology: We don\u2019t know what\u2019s under the surface until we put a shovel there,\u201d Jepson said. \u201cBut once we started to excavate, we realized we had some rather remarkable structures there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruins from the year 800<\/div>\n

Charlie Reed is with Alpine Archaeological Consultants, the company contracted by CDOT to lead the excavation of the sites. He said the first step in tracking down signs from the past is a simple walk, looking for telltale signs such as broken pottery, scattered cobbles or depressions in the ground.<\/p>\n

Given the size of what researchers suspected was on top of Florida Mesa, radar technology was brought in to help pinpoint the buried ruins.<\/p>\n

\"Jessica
Jessica Kenmore, left, and Denise Hoth, both with Alpine Archaeological Consultants, log items that have been discovered during an excavation of pit houses at a site near Farmington Hill. The Colorado Department of Transportation contracted the company for the archaeological dig in the area of the U.S. Highway 550 realignment.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThen we start by hand,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

Since beginning last fall, digs have turned up a vast expanse of ruins left by Native Americans who inhabited Durango around the year 800. Slowly, they unearthed vast ceremonial sites, large pit houses and living quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the pit houses are one of the larger structures we\u2019ve seen in the region,\u201d Reed said. \u201cThese projects come along rarely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shells and fish bones found<\/div>\n

CDOT hopes to break ground on the new section of U.S. 550 in spring, so researchers have little time with the ruins.<\/p>\n

The structures are mapped for archival purposes, and crews painstakingly dig around the ruins, collecting artifacts to be sent off to a lab for research.<\/p>\n

The findings, Reed said, help researchers piece together what life was like for people who lived there.<\/p>\n

\"Shells
Shells from the Baja region were recently found at an excavation of a Native American ruin, leading researchers to believe tribes that inhabited the region had a trade network far and wide.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At one site, researchers discovered shells from the Baja region, which pointed to a wide tribal trading network. At another, fish bones found in a pit house pointed to the Animas River as a food source.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s learned in the field and lab will be compiled in a public report in a year or so, Reed said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more to be learned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Cordero said in the almost 20 years he has studied ruins in the Southwest, he has never seen an open air site so well preserved, a result of the type of soil in the area. And that is going to help when he takes the human and animal bones recovered into the lab for study.<\/p>\n

Bones tell a story, he said. Signs and markings can tell researchers if an individual lived a life of strenuous physical activity, if they experienced hunger or if they had certain illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe skeleton keeps a great record of the life history of an individual,\u201d he said. \u201cWith that, we can start telling the story of who this person was and how they lived. And when you get enough stories together, you get a population and a better idea how a group used the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Our eyes have just opened\u2019<\/div>\n

Evidence of human settlement in the Southwest dates 13,000 years, but it is the well-preserved ruins at Mesa Verde National Park and Hovenweep National Monument, occupied from 700 to 1250 by the Ancestral Puebloan people, that tend to capture the public\u2019s fascination.<\/p>\n

The ruins found around Durango, which tend to be older than Mesa Verde in the Pueblo I period from about 750 to 900, however, have been subject to less study, said Wilshusen, who is an affiliate faculty with Colorado State University in Fort Collins.<\/p>\n

While structures and hints of lifestyles hold similarities, there are distinct differences. Wilshusen said the site on Florida Mesa, for instance, shows the first attempts of Native Americans settling into villages.<\/p>\n

\"Rydell
Rydell Tsosie, left, and Chris Greubel, both with Alpine Archaeological Consultants, work in a pit house during an excavation. Structures on site will be documented before demolition, and artifacts will either be housed in a museum or sent to tribes.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s really the beginning of the first villages we see in the Southwest,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s the beginning of something that later manifests itself in the larger villages we see out in Mesa Verde or Sand Canyon several hundred years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilshusen said archaeologists\u2019 understanding of Native American people has drastically evolved. Once explained a linear boom-and-bust trend, life for the early people is now considered more complex, with fluctuating population and much movement.<\/p>\n

By the late 800s and early 900s, for instance, many of the people living around Durango left. Stress factors, such as drought or internal conflict, could be the cause, or maybe people started moving west to be closer to the cultural center of Mesa Verde.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s a much more human story,\u201d Wilshusen said. \u201cOur eyes have just opened to what a rich picture we have of this landscape in the 800s.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honoring those who came before us<\/div>\n

As more people move to the Southwest, it\u2019s inevitable the conflict between preservation and development will arise.<\/p>\n

\"Denise
Denise Frazier and Nick Simpson, both archaeologists, with Alpine Archaeological Consultants, screen dirt at an archaeological dig. Researchers have been finding all kinds of artifacts they will use to put together the lives of the people who once inhabited the Durango area.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

That\u2019s why federal and state laws aimed at protecting these sites are so important, said Bernadette Cuthair, director of planning and development for the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, one of four tribes being consulted during the U.S. 550 project.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not always easy when a project requires the destruction of a ruin or site.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonoring those people that have come before us is very important to the Native American community,\u201d Cuthair said. \u201cIt is something we hold to our heart, as far as respecting and being mindful of their ways in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, archaeologists and tribes may have disagreements.<\/p>\n\n

\u201cFrom an archaeological standpoint, yes, it\u2019s important and possibly a learning tool,\u201d Cuthair said. \u201cBut for us, it\u2019s a connection to our past. That\u2019s really important to us. And we have to take care of it in the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Southern Ute tribe declined to comment for this story. Calls to the Hopi and Pueblo of Laguna tribes were not returned.<\/p>\n

Ernest House Jr., a Ute Mountain Ute member who served as director for the Colorado Commission for Indian Affairs for 11 years, said a turning point came in 2007 when state protocol gave tribes greater control and input when historical sites are discovered.<\/p>\n

This protocol is particularly important, House said, when human remains are found.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re our ancestors, and there was care taken to make sure they had a proper burial,\u201d he said. \u201cSo when they are uncovered, that burial is not complete and that individual\u2019s spirit is left between various worlds. The tribes want to make sure they are back in the ground in a timely manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

A balance of progress, sensitivity<\/div>\n

Lisa Schwantes, spokeswoman for CDOT, said any human remains and artifacts associated with a burial will be returned to the tribes so they may reburied, honoring their traditions. All other unearthed artifacts, she said, will be recorded and housed at the Canyons of the Ancients Visitor Center and Museum, near Dolores.<\/p>\n

The ruins, however, will be buried and destroyed as U.S. 550 rolls through.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have really tried to foster a good relationship with the tribes,\u201d CDOT\u2019s Jepson said. \u201cIt\u2019s the nature of the business, really, having to balance the positive parts of historic preservation with progress. Not everything can be saved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilshusen, too, lamented the impending loss of the site, but heralded the opportunity to study a site that would otherwise still be buried underground, unknown to researchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way, maybe we\u2019re like the ancestral people \u2013 they would often build on top of old sites,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not that they didn\u2019t have regard for the previous site. Maybe it was the best location for them, and they had to make that decision. I think it\u2019s the same way for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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