The Use History of LZ 1209 and LZ 1204 in the El Morro Valley NM_MA Paper Draft

This paper examines the use history of roomblocks within a Post-Chacoan era (circa AD 1225 – 1275) community in the El Morro Valley, New Mexico. It estimates the resident population and calculates the occupation span of LZ 1209 and LZ 1204 in the Los Gigantes site cluster, a group of more than a dozen residential roomblocks dating to the late Pueblo III period. The roomblocks were subjected to an intensive stratified random sampling procedure modeled after the Sand Canyon Small Site Testing Program. Population and occupation length estimates are calculated through a ceramic accumulation analysis. Results indicate that El Morro Valley household(s) occupied these roomblocks in the Los Gigantes community for very short periods of time. This conclusion suggests that quite substantial pueblos may have been built sometimes only to be occupied for a few years.