Excavations at 29SJ633: the Eleventh Hour Site, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

Chaco Canyon, located in the approximate center of the San Juan Basin of northwestern New Mexico (Figure 1.1), has been the focus of archeological research for nearly a century. Many large and small sites have been investigated. Figure 1.2 indicates the location of sane of the large sites within and just outside Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Research carried out by the Chaco Project focused on the development of the Chaco Anasazi from the earliest appearance of nan through the abandonment of the area. As a result, most of the sites excavated were the smaller ones.This report focuses on one such site that was built and used at the same time as the large pueblos. Site 29SJ633 is located in Marcia's Rincon on the south side of Chaco Canyon in an area across the Chaco wash from the park's Visitors' Center and northwest of the confluence of the Chaco Wash and Fajada (Vincente) Wash (Figure 1.3). It is part of a larger settlement that shows continuity in use through time (Figure 1.4) (McKenna 1986, Windes 1978). The site consists of a 12-15-room Pueblo III house with three possible kivas, an earlier house offset to the west, and three trash areas located to the southeast, the south, and the southwest. A cist, possibly Navajo, was also found in the southwestern trash area (Figure 1.5).