Haynie Site honored at recent Stephen H. Hart Award Ceremony

We really believe in what is known as conservation archaeology. That means that the majority of an archaeological site should remain unexcavated and intact for future generations to explore. The Haney site is a ancestral Pueblo village that dates from about the 8th century through the 13th century. It is one of the most continuously occupied sites in southwest Colorado. On the surface of the site and very visible to the public are the majestic Chacun walls and their multi-roomed Pueblos that are underneath that. Below that we're finding what are probably archaic period pit houses and so this was obviously a favorite place to live for thousands of years. One thing we've noticed working in the what we call the Mesa Verde region here in southwest Colorado is that people tended to move frequently every 15 to 20 years. The roof might begin to collapse, the walls might begin to crumble and people might pick up and move a mile away and build a new settlement. At the Haney site it's been people building and remodeling continuously one house on top of the other. Almost any structure at the Haney site people had lived in and remodeled for 150 years. The Haney site is Crow Canyon's current field project. It's where we are conducting excavation and testing to help develop a preservation plan for the Archaeological Conservancy who is one of our partners. In about 2015 a consortium of private individuals stepped forward and realized that there was an opportunity to purchase the property and they did so and did so with the eye towards bringing the property to the Archaeological Conservancy. We partnered with the Colorado Historical Fund and they've been instrumental partners in helping us to acquire the site. A lot of what we've been finding as we excavate are pieces of pottery what we call chipped stone or flaked stone which are items that people use to make cutting implements or making things for scraping hides. We find a lot of faunal bone those are the remains of animals that people would have been eating or using for other purposes. We collect a lot of samples for things like radiocarbon sampling which allows us to get more precise dates for the site. We have educational outreach that we do with college students with high school and middle school students and we also have adult participants who come and work with us learn a little bit about the culture and history of this part of Colorado. As soon as their work is done the area will be back filled and the Haney site will pleasantly sit there waiting for new ideas and new techniques to be developed in archaeology. New archaeologists come along and make additional discoveries.