Room Functions

Most rooms in this community did not house people. Many rooms were likely used to store tools, food, and water, and with large pottery vessels and abundant storage rooms in the canyon, residents could have kept a 100-day water supply without much difficulty. The larger rooms were typical living spaces where people slept and took shelter from bad weather, and although family size is unknown, several people probably lived together in one room. Most work took place outside when weather allowed, including on a retaining wall-built patio workspace along the canyon edge. Room uses may have changed over time, and a doorway between two rooms was blocked off while the rooms were in use. When undisturbed, the kinds and locations of artifacts reveal everyday activities from 800 years ago; in one room, archeologists recovered knives, sandals, shaped stone cylinders, and tools for making pottery and crafting arrowshafts.

Flagstaff, Arizona · United States