Alkali Ridge, also known as Alkali Point, is a set of widely scattered

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

remains of the earliest forms of

Puebloan The Puebloans or Pueblo peoples, are Native Americans in the Southwestern United States who share common agricultural, material, and religious practices. Currently 100 pueblos are actively inhabited, among which Taos, San Ildefonso, Acoma, Zun ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, representing a period of transition from scattered, pit-style dwellings to a settled

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

lifestyle.

Description

These multi-story

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fun ...

s and

kiva A kiva is a space used by Puebloans for rites and political meetings, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, "kiva" means a large room that is circular and underground, ...

s have yielded high-quality

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, and form the type location for the Pueblo II period (c. 900 CE – c. 1100 CE). The landmarked areas are noted for the density of archaeological materials, with an average density of 200 sites per square mile across the area. These resources provide an important view of the transitions of early inhabitants from pit houses to

pueblo In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...

s, because there are examples of all of the major forms between them. Its most important sites were first excavated in the 1930s. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1964. Cacao residue was detected in Site 13 ceramics after testing by University of Pennsylvania and Bristol-Meyers Squibb researchers. "At Alkali Ridge there are faint marks of an ancient road, likely a trade route that connected this settlement to trading and cultural partners beyond."

Bears Ears

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition (BEITC), which was formed in 2015 with representatives from the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribes submitted a report that led to the creation of

Bears Ears National Monument Bears Ears National Monument is a United States national monument located in San Juan County in southeastern Utah, established by President Barack Obama by presidential proclamation on December 28, 2016. The monument protects of public land su ...

which included Alkali Ridge as one of six "cultural special management areas" along with the Hole-in-the-Rock Historical Trail and the Grand Gulch, Big Westwater Ruin, Dance Hall Rock, Sand Island Petroglyph Panel, the Newspaper Rock Petroglyph Panel, and the Butler Wash Archaeological District National Register site.

References

External links

BLM page
on the Alkali Ridge area {{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Utah Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Landforms of San Juan County, Utah Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah National Register of Historic Places in San Juan County, Utah

Description

Bears Ears

See also

References

Further reading

External links