Excavations at the Green Liza_rd Site . Edgar K. Huber and William D. Lipe Introduction than Sand Canyon Pueblo, or was abandoned before the end of occupation at the larger site, does comparison of he Green Lizard site (5MT3901) is a small, Pueblo III artifacts and ecofacts from the two sites provide evidence T habitation site located in the middle reaches of Sand that may help us understand the shift from a dispersed to Canyon, approximately 1 km down canyon from Sand an aggregated settlement pattern and/or the eventual aban­ Canyon Pueblo (Figure 1.3). In the summers of 1987 and donment of the Sand Canyon locality? 1988, intensive excavation was carried out in the western In planning for the Green Lizard excavations, we de­ half of the site. A kiva, an adjacent masonry· roomblock, cided to excavate a full kiva suite (kiva and associated and the floors of several jacal structures were excavated; surface rooms) to obtain a data set fully comparable to those the midden lying to the south of these features was sampled being produced by the intensive excavations of kiva suites with test pits (Figure 6~ 1). at Sand Canyon Pueblo (Bradley, this volume; see also The Green Lizard site Was first recorded by Craw Adams 1985a; Bradley 1986, 1987, 1988a, 1990; Kleidon Canyon Center researchers in 1984 (Adams 1985a). The and Bradley 1989). layout of the site is essentially two adjacent Prudden units (Prudden 1903, 1914, 1918). It consists of two kivas, Environmental Setting approximately 20 more or less contiguous, masonry-walled surface rooms, and an extensive and reJatively deep midden The Green Lizard site is located within Sand Canyon on a deposit located to the south of the structures (Figure 6.1). , small, south-facing erosional bench at an elevation of 2025 Portions of several retaining walls are located in the midden m (6645 ft). A large spring, which flowed throughout the area, and several checkdams or similar erosion control relatively dry summer of 1987, is located on the floor of features occur a few meters to the west, east, and possibly Sand Canyon approximately 30 m belcrw the site. The site north of the architectural portion of the site. is in the mixed pinyon-juniper woodland that blankets the Surface pottery and masonry styles at the Green Lizard upper reaches of Sand Canyon. A small riparian vegetation site indicated to the survey crew that it was occupied during community is present below the site but is restricted to the the Pueblo III period, probably in the A.D. 1200s. It was vicinity of the spring and the narrow main drainage channel selected for excavation to obtain data on Pueblo III com- . of Sand Canyon. munity organization in the Sand Canyon locality. Questions The site cominands an excellent view down the canyon guidillg the work included: (1) When and how long was the to its confluence with McElmo Creek and of the northern Green Lizard site occupied? Was it ·earlier than Sand flank of Sleeping Ute Mountain. Within the canyon, poten­ Canyon Pueblo, partially contemporaneous, or fully con­ tially arable soil can be found on broad colluvial terraces temporaneous? (2) If it was contemporaneous, at least in less than 1 km south,of the site. Numerous small colluvial part, with Sand Canyon Pueblo, were activities at this small benches near the site may also contain sedim~nts suitable site similar to activities at the nearby large site, or did the for agriculture. The wind-deposited, arable silts on the two settlements play different roles in the upper Sand mesa top are accessible within 1 km. The bench on which Canyon community? (3) If the Green Lizard site was earlier the site is located is formed of colluvium and talus resul~g !c 69 I 70 HUBER AND LIPE ,---1----~---...,1~--- I I •. , . ... ·. \ \ \ I!. _·:· \ I J___ .:,., -- :' •·.·_:.: ' 0 ,_____ - \ ; :· Qo::o \JD\ ~- ' ' /.,.....--........_ 1--J': .. I '\ I / ~ I \ 1----J ~ 1 Str 11 i \ I I ) l\ I '-. / I'----/ I -.., . \ I I L___ , '--' 0 KEY 0 0 ' 0 Probability square Midden Sandstone Str Structure 0 Boulder Post hole Inferred 0 2 4 . _. Inferred retaining wall 0 meters Figure 6.1. Excavations and main cultural features at the Green Lizard site. from the erosion of the Brushy Basin Shale Member of the randomly located test pits were excavated in peripheral Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, which also underlies areas of the site. No clear kiva depre~sion was evident in the bench. The Brushy Basin Member consists of banded the eastern half of the site; so a test trench was excavated and variegated gray, green, brown, and red shales accom­ to detemiine if a kiva was present; evidence of a kiva was panied by thin bands of limestone, sandstone, conglomer­ encountered (Figure 6.1). The site sampling strategy em­ ate, mudstone, claystone, and bentonite. It is conformably ployed six sampling strata. overlain by the Cretaceous Burro Canyon Formation, which Sampling Stratum 1 consists of the peripheral zone ' consists of variegated conglomerates, sandstones, lime­ north, east, and west of the architectural and midden stones, shales, and cherts. Lying unconformably on the features of the site. The external boundaries of this sam­ Burro Canyon Formation is the Cretaceous Dakota Sand­ pling stratum (and hence the site boundary) are defined by stone Formation, which consists of variegated sandstones · the falling off of a~tifact densities to near zero, except on interbedded with variegated clays, gray shale, and lignite, the south, where the boundary coincides with an abrupt as well as massive silicified and cemented quartz sandstone steepening of the slope below the site. Due to erosion of (Northrop 19(3). The Dakota Formation forms the canyon the midden, some surface artifacts do occur south of this rim and upland surface and is the uppermost rock formation boundary. To sample Stratum 1, fo1,1r randomly selected in the Sand Canyon drainage. In the uplands,. un­ 1- X -1-m sampling units were excavated' to sterile deposits. consolidated eolian silts of varying thicknesses commonly This is the minimum number of sampling units from which lie on the Dakota .Sandstone. quantitative data can be subjected to statistical manipulation ~ith viable results (Blalock 1979). Sampling Design Sampling Stratum 2 consists of the architectural com­ ponent of the site, including all rooms, kivas, and associ­ The site was sampled by a combination of intensive exca­ ated courtyard areas. This sampling stratum was vation and a stratified random sample employing 1- X -1-m investigated by intensive excavation of the western kiva and test pits. Intensive excavations focused on the architectural associated western roomblock, or approximately 50 per­ features in. the west half of the site; the entire midden area cent of the architectural features in Stratum 2. The only was sampled with randomly located test pits. In addition, sections of the western kiva suite left unexcavated are the EXCAVATIONS AT THE GREEN LIZARD SITE 71 t\m kiva tunnels and the ventilation system, whicb. could Excavations in Structure 1 (Kiva) not be completely excavated in the time available. The only excavation in the eastern halfof Stratum 2 was a test trench Excavations in the kiva were carried out in both the 1987 through a portioli of the eastern kiva to determine its and 1988 field seasons. The most notable structural char­ placement a.n,d depth. Although the intensive excavation of acteristic of this kiva is its almost complete lack of masonry only half of Stratum 2 produced a sample that is not strictly in the lower and upper lining walls. Most ofthe lowerlining comparable to that yielded by the random test-pit design in wall consists simply of plastered sterile sediments rather the other strata, this approach did yield data comparable to than masonry. Masonry is largely confined to the pilasters similar intensive excavations of kiva suites at Sand Canyon and to the southern recess, where several large boulders Pueblo. It was thought that the Stratum 2 sample would be intrude .through the wall. It appears that the builders large enough to be reasonably representative of the stra­ decided that a maSOJ?TY wall around the boulders was tum, and that it could be adjusted to peri:n.it comparison necessary to stabilize the southern recess. East of the with data from the randomly sampled strata. southern recess, a section ofboulder intrudes onto the floor Sampling Strata 3 through 6 are located in the :midden of the kiva below the pilaster; this boulder has been area of the site. To create these samples, the :midden was carefully pecked away· to conform to the arc of the kiva initially divided into an upper, or "formal," midden and a floor. The edge of the bench surface above the southwestern lower, or downslope, portion. Based on surface evidence, tunnel was faced with a single rrN/ of stmtes. lt is probable it was inferred that the upper portion represented relatively that this stone facing was added to reinforce the edge of the intact deposits, whereas the sediments in the lower portion earthen bench surface that had been undercut by the tunnel were much more likely to have been redeposited or re­ opening. worked by erosion and slopewash. This upper/lower dichot­ omy was then bisected by . a division into eastern and Fill Stratigraphy western halves, so that samples of :midden materials likely to have originated from the eastern and western Prudden The postabandonment depositional record of the kiva-flll units could be compared. As a result of this scheme, the sediments is relatively straightforward. Although a number western upper portion of ·the :midden was designated as of individual strata were recorded, these can be grouped Stratum 3, the eastern upper portion as Stratum 4, and the into three major depositional units, labeled 1 to 3 from top western and eastern lower portions as Strata 5 and 6, to bottom.