Clark, Jessica (Brigham Young University)
Faculty Advisor: Allison, Jim (Family Home and Social Sciences, Anthropology)
The Kiva was an important element to daily like in the ancient ancestral Puebloan culture. Using construction materials gathered from an excavation at a Pueblo III site in southeastern Utah, the project focuses on how the raw materials of the area were exploited for construction purposes. By examining the composition of plaster, mortar, and masonry rocks I hope to gain a more insightful understanding of how the Ancestral Puebloan people used their available resources. In addition, studying impressions on burned impressed adobe, along with charcoal samples from site, will help me to gain an understanding of the wood used for the kiva roof, as well as potentially showing how the roof of the structure held. Because indigenous people of the American Southwest have strong ties with the earth, gaining a small understanding of how their ancestors used the land is an important study.