In this webinar, the presenters will share findings from a fascinating Crow Canyon project that investigated a Basketmaker III (A.D. 500–750) settlement on Indian Camp Ranch near Mesa Verde from 2011–2018. The project found a settlement made up of culturally diverse immigrants with architectural and pottery production practices from various traditions across the Southwest. Public gatherings in the settlement’s great kiva transformed this diverse group into an integrated community. As the community grew, descendants of the original settlers found themselves with managerial control of the great kiva and many production practices, such as pottery manufacture and design. This development appears to have contributed to the community’s stability and economic viability and likely influenced Ancestral Pueblo social practices in the central Mesa Verde region for centuries.
About the presenters:
Shanna Diederichs works as an Archaeologist and Architectural Conservator at Woods Canyon Archaeological Consultants in Cortez, Colorado. She supervised the Basketmaker Communities Project for Crow Canyon. Read her full bio.
Kari Schleher is the Curator of Archaeology at the Maxwell Museum and an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Before joining the Maxwell Museum at UNM, she was Crow Canyon's Archaeological Lab Manager. Read her full bio.