Surface indications at Site 1205, a small cave on Wetherill Mesa, were a heavily smoked cave roof, deep deposit on the floor and trash slope, with an absence of pottery. There was no evidence of structures. A test trench in the trash revealed pottery-hearing levels near the surface, with an underlying stratum containing only charcoal and burned sandstone. The possibility of a preceramic occupation led to excavation. Use of the cave from the Piedra through Mesa Verde phases, with estimated dates from the 8th into the 13th centuries, was shown. Evidence for earlier use was inconclusive.

A formal description is presented for a new type of plain gray pottery made during late Pueblo II and early Pueblo III at Mesa Verde and its surrounding territory. Significant characteristics include jar and pitcher shapes, small size, and the presence of a single unobliterated fillet around the rim. This type is seen as a continuation of the plain gray pottery tradition in the northern San Juan region.

Some of the use-modified stone artifacts obtained from Puebloan sites on Wetherill and Chapin mesas exhibit one technological attribute, edge-abrasion, which does not seem to have been reported previously from the Four Corners region nor from other sections of the United States. These artifacts are grouped under 38 styles, based on variations of edge-abrasion and other features resulting from use. They are assignable to each of the ceramic stages identified in the Mesa Verde district — Basketmaker III, Pueblo I, Pueblo II, and Pueblo III. Experiments suggest that edge-abrasion resulted from using the sharp-edged rock fragments to incise geometric designs on sandstone building elements and linear figures on fallen blocks of sandstone and, more commonly, to cut or saw “blanks” for artifacts and possibly many of the slabs and blocks (for architectural purposes) from larger pieces of the locally abundant, soft, fine-grained sandstone.

The study of a large amount of chipped material from the seven largest sites excavated at Wetherill Mesa has yielded a pattern of change (as shown in graphs) in chipping methods and materials used that correlates well with other aspects of cultural change.

Several distinct structural fibers, all yucca, were observed in the twines taken from the Wetherill Mesa sites. Attempts were made to duplicate these fibers, using leaves from Yucca baccata and Yucca harrimaniae. Although our methods did not produce all fibers with the exact coloration of the prehistoric fibers, it is probable that our procedures approximated those of the ancient Indians.

A large pine plank was removed from a cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde in 1889. This plank, which had been shaped by charring and stone tools, measured 3.4 m. long, 0.49 m. wide, and 0.08 m. thick. Although its original provenience is not known, the plank probably came from the great kiva in Fire Temple, where it may have served as a vault cover or as a lintel over a double doorway in the east wall.

Three trees which began growing in the 12th century lean in a manner not characteristic of neighboring Douglas-firs and have tree-ring patterns showing changes that do not appear to reflect climatic influences. Two old trees, now dead, have limb stubs that were cut by stone tools. It is possible the prehistoric Indians cultivated trees so that in a relatively short time a single root system would produce several limbs suitable for use as construction timbers.

Exceptional preservation in a sheltered Pueblo III cliff site at Mesa Verde enables delineation of space units formerly occupied by socio-economic groups. These groups are not characterized by kinship relations but by durable remains of domestic cooperation, such as the juxtaposition of rooms with different functions, building sequences, patterns of movement indicated by doorway locations, and the placement of hearths and other domestic features. Three different groupings are recognized: household units or suites, courtyard units, and complete village-sized communities.

Extinct at Mesa Verde in historic times, the turkey was reintroduced in 1944. This permitted observation of the relationship between wild birds and domesticated employees at the park. Timid at first, the turkeys soon knew where food could be found. They took over the feeding stations set out for small birds and took advantage of warm roosting places in the residential area. Despite efforts to chase them away (tossing cherry bombs and firing guns in the air), turkeys continued to congregate around park homes. It can be conjectured that the prehistoric Indians suffered likewise. When they learned that they could not drive off the turkeys, they most likely decided to corral them to protect their crops and food stores. Recognition of the value of this bird for food and artifacts was the logical next step. Domestication must have been a means for establishing order and maintaining sanity among the prehistoric Indians, who might otherwise have been driven wild by turkeys.

The disappearance of the agricultural Anasazi peoples from the Four Corners area has been popularly attributed to the incursions of predatory tribes. The position of the Ute in aboriginal distribution makes them the obvious candidates for the honor of having evicted the peaceful cliff-dwellers. Analysis shows that the Utes moved into the Four Corners area much later than is customarily thought — probably 400 years after the Anasazi had drifted away.

Despite Fewkes's reports of 1909 and 1916 that a legend of a battle with the Anasazi was obtained from the Utes, such knowledge was denied by all Southern Utes queried in 1963. Their matter-of-fact acceptance of a common identity between the ruins builders and the modern Pueblo peoples, together with evidence from Spanish documents, led to the hypothesis that the Utes have had a long, unbroken (if somewhat peripheral), and for the most part nonviolent contact with the Anasazi-Pueblo. Spanish records also suggest that eastern Utes in early historic times had become quite unlike their more closely studied Great Basin relatives, and that as participants in the general plains culture they had further contact with the Pueblos and the Spanish. Evidence that an Athapascan intrusion successfully blocked Ute-Pueblo contact seems far from conclusive.

The petrology and stratification of the late Pleistocene and Recent mesa deposits in the Mesa Verde area are described. These deposits are believed to have been formed by eolian deposition. Measurements of present-day dust accumulation are reported. The age relationships of the strata are discussed on the basis of measurements of the radioactivity of organic carbon and carbonate precipitates and with reference to the early Mesa Verde culture.

Ring-width chronologies in Douglas-fir, pinyon pine, and Utah juniper show some distinctly different characteristics and exhibit highly predictable relationships with variations in climate. Narrow rings in Douglas-fir are largely the result of low precipitation and high temperatures of the previous June, low precipitation during August through February, low precipitation and low temperatures during March through May, and low precipitation and high temperatures of the current June. Narrow rings in pinyon pine are largely a function of low precipitation from October through May, but high July temperatures near the end of the growing season may also exert an influence. Narrow rings in Utah juniper are the result of low precipitation and high temperatures during the previous October through November, low precipitation during December through February, and low precipitation and high temperatures during March through May. A biological model for these relationships is proposed. The tree-ring chronology from A.D. 1273 through 1285 exhibits a clearly defined drought which exceeds in length and intensity any dry period occurring since A.D. 1673. A comparison of the chronologies from species which are influenced differently by summer precipitation indicates that during this period both summers and winters must have been dry. However, the A.D. 1273-1285 drought at Mesa Verde was surpassed by six other droughts of greater intensity during the period A.D. 500–1300. The A.D. 1273–1285 drought may be only one of several factors in a chain of events which led to the decline of prehistoric population in the Mesa Verde.

Nine profiles of prehistoric cultural deposits at Wetherill Mesa, Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado, were analyzed for fossil pollen content. Relatively large numbers of corn (Zea) pollen occur in certain deposits of Mug House. In the alluvium retained behind low walls of two check-dams, the frequency of Zea is relatively low (.07%) but approximates the frequency of Zea pollen in soil of a garden on Chapin Mesa planted in Indian corn since 1919. Evidently, soil behind the prehistoric checkdams served as corn plots. The abundance of pollen resembling bee-weed (Cleome serrulata) suggests a more important role for the caper family in prehistoric time than would be inferred from its macrofossil record alone. The Cieome-type is common in prehistoric refuse and in human coprolite in the Four Corners area.

Pollen content of matrix within a single archaeological site may vary, depending on the nature of the deposit. Although parts of their deposits overlap in time, the pollen content of (1) a trash slope, (2) a kiva, and (3) a work area within Mug House pueblo varies greatly, especially in economic pollen. Variation between profiles is reduced considerably when they are taken from the same type of deposit, that is, adjacent kivas or trash profiles.

The hope that the fossil record would shed new light on the cause of abandonment of Mesa Verde was largely unrealized. The main stratigraphic event in the pollen sequence of the last 1000 years is a relative increase in juniper and pine pollen following abandonment 700 years ago. Ecologically, this rise can be explained as the result of secondary plant succession with first juniper and then pinyon invading fields when human disturbance ended. It may or may not reflect climatic change.

Most corn from the Mesa Verde area belongs to a complex derived from hybridization of a small-cobbed flint-pop corn with an 8-rowed flour corn. This cross produced 12- to 14-rowed flint and flour corn (the typical Basketmaker corn) and the variable Pima-Papago corn. After Pueblo I, probably late Pueblo II, there was an increase in the number of 8-rowed cobs and a decrease in 12- to 14-rowed cobs. The corn is similar to collections from sites of comparable age excavated in northern Arizona near Navajo Mountain. The uniformity and the slow development of corn types probably reflect peripheral conditions, especially adaptation to short growing seasons and limited cultural interchange.

Practically all of the squash was Cucurbita pepo, the species which spread over all agricultural areas of the United States. There were a few specimens of Cucurbita mixta and of the bottle gourd, Lagenaria siceraria. Some rinds of the two species of Cucurbita gave evidence of their use for scrapers and containers, uses to which the bottle gourd is put almost exclusively in sites to the south. The rarity of the bottle gourd and the absence of seeds and plant parts of cotton suggest that these plants were rarely, if ever, grown in the region.

Analysis of bean seeds taken from various Wetherill Mesa prehistoric Indian sites shows that all belong to the Phaseolus vulgaris (common bean) species. Of the five varieties of this species, one seems to have predominated — an “all-purpose” bean used as a string bean and as a dry, mature bean. This variety is also the most commonly occurring bean in the pre-Columbian Southwest.

Bird bones from sites on Chapin Mesa, in the collection of the Mesa Verde Museum, were examined. From such a study, it is possible to learn something about the distribution (temporal and spatial) of certain bird species, the use made of them by prehistoric peoples, and certain aspects of the ecology. Birds identified included Whistling Swan, Mallard or Mexican Duck, Hawk, Sage Grouse, Turkey, Sandhill Crane, Great Horned Owl, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, and Common Crow.

Turkey bones occurred in some archaeological sites of Wetherill Mesa in such quantity and form as to demonstrate the value of this domestic fowl as a major economic factor in the lives of the local inhabitants. Here are ample evidences of the use of turkey bones in the manufacture of tools and jewelry and of the use of turkey meat as food. Actual evidence of cooking was not recognized, but butchering techniques were indicated by cut marks on bones. Some occurrences of groups of disarticulated bones in a normal relationship of articulation may or may not have a ritual meaning. Some information is given that may be helpful in distinguishing bones of the Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo merriami) from bones of the archaeological and modern domestic breeds. Comments are also made on some problems that deal with the turkey as an economic factor in the lives of peoples of other areas in the Southwest.