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Videos by David Dove

This 4 minute video provides a 2021 update of the San Juan Redware Sourcing and Exchange Project.... more This 4 minute video provides a 2021 update of the San Juan Redware Sourcing and Exchange Project. Production locales in Montezuma Canyon are identified and pottery made at a number of producer villages in there has been identified at a number of consumer villages in Southwestern Colorado.

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This 4-minute video presentation provides a brief summary of recent research inside the sprawling... more This 4-minute video presentation provides a brief summary of recent research inside the sprawling Mitchell Springs Community watershed. The project explores the rise of insipient dual high-status entities that established themselves at the center of the community in the early Pueblo I or Basketmaker III period and continued to occupy the same space for at least four centuries. Their presence is traced through time and is postulated to have evolved into a multi-story greathouse with an appended tri-wall structure that continued to be controlled by the same two entities. This space was highly focused on public rituals that included frequent feast preparation and hosting.

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Papers by David Dove

Pottery Southwest, 2022

The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anth... more The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anthropology. Tracing the pathways of artifacts from their origin of manufacture to their point of deposition reveals patterns of interaction and exchange among prehistoric people. Previous archaeometric approaches in have been limited in their ability to source ceramics at such fine spatial scales as neighboring communities where the examination of interaction and exchange is most challenging. The study reported here focused on an archaeometric method aimed at solving this problem through examination of geological materials and prehistoric pottery sherds. The abbreviated results presented here highlight the relationship between two large Ancestral Puebloan sites, and reveal that pottery recovered from a site in southwest Colorado originated almost exclusively, from a single producer of red ware in Montezuma Canyon, Utah. The two sites are among nearly one hundred sites currently under evaluation in the study area, which covers some 3,500 km2 in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.

American Antiquity, 2016

The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest,... more The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest, the latter as the only case of Native American animal domestication north of Mexico. In the upland (non-desert) portion of the American Southwest, distinctive closely related mtDNA lineages belonging to haplogroup H1 (thought to indicate domestication) occur from ca. 1 A.D. (Basketmaker II period) through early historic times. At many sites, low frequencies of lineages belonging to haplogroup H2 also occur, apparently derived from the local Merriam’s subspecies. We report genetic, stable isotope, and coprolite data from turkey remains recovered at three early sites in SE Utah and SW Colorado dating to the Basketmaker II, III, and early Pueblo II periods. Evidence from these and other early sites indicates that both the H1 and H2 turkeys had a predominantly maize-based diet similar to that of humans; prior to late Pueblo II times, the birds were kept primarily to provide feathers for bla...

Southwestern Lore, 2021

Inspired by a successful subsurface mapping project at the Mitchell Springs archaeological site n... more Inspired by a successful subsurface mapping project at the Mitchell Springs archaeological site near Cortez, Colorado researchers of that investigation expressed an interest in using the knowledge gained to study another potentially important ruin group in nearby Dolores County. Work was initiated at the Greenlee Site archaeological group in May 2004 following a successful assessment grant application to the State Historical Fund, a program of the Colorado Historical Society. The study was designed to evaluate site significance from the perspectives of size, function and temporal placement. To obtain the best results within the time constraints, it was expected that contour topographic studies would eliminate much of the guesswork regarding where one should ultimately conduct remote sensing work and archaeological testing to obtain the necessary data. Topography work has been completed and the intended geophysical work has been accomplished. Excavations based on data acquired through these efforts are also complete. The results of this work show the site was occupied largely within the 10 century with a probable overlap into both the late 9 century and early 1000s. The Greenlee Site was probably the largest in the area for this time period. It is recommended for National Register recognition.

Academia Letters, 2022

A cycle of lower temperatures and drought conditions unfavorable for agriculturalists, set in dur... more A cycle of lower temperatures and drought conditions unfavorable for agriculturalists, set in during the last quarter of the ninth-century in what is today the San Juan region of the American Southwest. The effects of these changes lasted more than a century, making farming difficult. A scarcity of tree-ring dates from this period indicates that population levels in the region had fallen sharply during the tenth-century from mid-ninth century levels. Many of those who did not leave aggregated into a greatly reduced number of villages and hamlets. In an attempt to improve agricultural conditions, creative strategies were implemented that drew upon fewer, more mesic places like the Colorado uplands where the chances for achieving a crop were reasonably good. In the more-xeric lowlands of Southeast Utah where precipitation was almost always in short supply, some farmers may have enhanced their subsistence security through the production and exchange of San Juan Red Ware (SJR) pottery. SJR was widely circulated throughout the larger Four Corners region from 750-1050 CE. Recent research suggests this exchange system may have been damaged by the climactic downturn that led to reduced populations. Fewer red ware pottery producers and consumers were there to

American Antiquity, 2016

Southwestern Lore, 2021

Mitchell Springs provided the central Montezuma Valley of southwestern Colorado a rare and reliab... more Mitchell Springs provided the central Montezuma Valley of southwestern
Colorado a rare and reliable water source that has been used by ancients for millennia. People began to settle near the springs in the middle of the AD seventh century and by the twelfth century a sprawling watershed-wide community with large-scale architectural and agricultural works had formed. Using a combination of data from surveys and recent excavations, this article explores the ties between the rise of elite groups in the watershed and the use of innovative methods to enhance agricultural production. Food abundance appears to have been the
primary engine that drove the formation of these groups whose presence was symbolized by a greathouse and other monumental creations. Excavations have revealed evidence that suggests one such group was tied to the same physical space at the center of the community for at least 400 years. Agricultural production at a scale that is demonstrably greater than what could be generated by a few households or extended households is suggested by repeated feasting at this location, room suites with unusually large storage capacities, and the presence
of rooms and features that were created and used principally for the preparation and consecration of food for these events. The earliest architectural footprints of this group consisted of two physically linked but distinctly separate adobe block houses in the early ninth century. Over time, elements of these entities became associated with, or evolved into, a greathouse and tri-wall building that appear to have served similar functions as the earlier houses and features that underlie those buildings. They symbolized success, power, past ancestors, and revered space, and they were enshrined and deliberately protected over the course of centuries.

http://www.fourcornersresearch.com/Mitchell\_Springs\_Report\_1998-2004.pdf, 2009

From 1990 through 2004, archaeological, geophysical and survey work was conducted at the Mitchell... more From 1990 through 2004, archaeological, geophysical and survey work was conducted at the Mitchell Springs Ruin Group on the south side of Cortez, Colorado. This important site was the center of a dense community of pueblos dating from around A.D. 780 to 1250. Basketmaker era sites have been documented within a short distance of the community center but our excavations failed to locate structures from this period.
A descriptive report describing the first five years of study was published in 1997 (Dove et al. 1997). The
information reported here describes subsequent investigations in areas of the main ruin group which had
not been previously studied.

Investigations at Champagne Spring Community An Early Pueblo II Community on the Great Sage Plain... more Investigations at Champagne Spring Community
An Early Pueblo II Community on the Great Sage Plain in the Central Mesa Verde Region

A Descriptive Summary of a Five-Year Testing Program of a Multi Great House Community in Central ... more A Descriptive Summary of a Five-Year Testing Program of a Multi Great House Community in Central Montezuma Valley

The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest,... more The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest, the latter as the only
case of Native American animal domestication north of Mexico. In the upland (non-desert) portion of the American Southwest,
distinctive closely related mtDNA lineages belonging to haplogroup H1 (thought to indicate domestication) occur from ca.
1 A.D. (Basketmaker II period) through early historic times. At many sites, low frequencies of lineages belonging to
haplogroup H2 also occur, apparently derived from the local Merriam’s subspecies. We report genetic, stable isotope, and
coprolite data from turkey remains recovered at three early sites in SE Utah and SW Colorado dating to the Basketmaker
II, III, and early Pueblo II periods. Evidence from these and other early sites indicates that both the H1 and H2 turkeys had
a predominantly maize-based diet similar to that of humans; prior to late Pueblo II times, the birds were kept primarily to
provide feathers for blankets and ritual uses; and ritualized burials indicate turkeys’symbolic value. We argue that viewing
individuals from the H1 and H2 haplogroups as “domestic” versus “wild” is an oversimplification.

The Champagne Spring Ruins (5DL2333) lie in the Mesa Verde area of the Northern San Juan region, ... more The Champagne Spring Ruins (5DL2333) lie in the Mesa Verde area of the Northern San Juan region, near Dove Creek, Colorado. During the A.D. 900-1100 period it was the site of a large pueblo community. Test excavations conducted in 2008 and 2011 on the North Hill investigated a group of six early kivas and late pit structures built on the north and west side of the community great kiva. This report focuses on Structure 34 where a group of animal burials were placed around the hearth and southwestern quarter of this early kiva. Notable structure features, construction data, and the animal burials are discussed. The relationship of the animal burials with the ritual abandonment and " closing " of the kiva is evaluated.

Conference Presentations by David Dove

Pecos Conference 2022, 2022

The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anth... more The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anthropology. Tracing the pathways of artifacts from their origin of manufacture to their point of deposition reveals patterns of interaction and exchange among prehistoric people. Previous archaeometric approaches in southeastern Utah have been limited in their ability to source ceramics at such fine spatial scales as neighboring communities where the examination of interaction and exchange is most challenging. The study reported here focused on an archaeometric method aimed at solving this problem through examination of geological materials and prehistoric pottery sherds. The abbreviated results presented here highlight the relationship between two large Ancestral Puebloan sites and reveal that pottery recovered from a site in southwest Colorado originated almost exclusively, from a single producer of red ware in Montezuma Canyon, Utah. The two sites are among nearly one hundred sites currently under evaluation in the study area, which covers some 3,500 square kilometers in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.

Pecos Conference, 2021

San Juan Red Ware Project: What Have We Learned? Research Update 2021

Pecos Conference, 2019

Geochemical sourcing studies conducted on San Juan Redware pottery and clay from Montezuma, Recap... more Geochemical sourcing studies conducted on San Juan Redware pottery and clay from Montezuma, Recapture, Cottonwood, and Alkali Canyons in southeast Utah and several large villages in southwestern Colorado have revealed insightful information about this widely exchanged ware. We present our latest discoveries; new evidence of intra-, inter-, and extra-canyon movement of redware pottery from a major production center in central Montezuma Canyon to numerous communities within and outside the production zone. We also introduce two potential production zones in Recapture and Cottonwood Canyon as defined by new additions to the assemblage of PXRF-analyzed clay and ceramics.

Pecos Conference, 2018

Geochemical sourcing studies conducted on San Juan Redware pottery from Montezuma Canyon (MZC) in... more Geochemical sourcing studies conducted on San Juan Redware pottery from Montezuma Canyon (MZC) in southeast Utah, and three large villages in southwestern Colorado, have revealed insightful information about this widely exchanged ware. The occurrence of sherds from these vessels on sites in southwestern Colorado from AD 750-1050 suggests that a long-term exchange relationship existed between distant communities.
Ceramics collected from sites in Montezuma Canyon in southeastern Utah (Nancy Patterson Village, Cave Canyon Village and Monument Village) and southwestern Colorado (Mitchell Springs, Champagne Spring, and Haynie), and clay from various Morrison Formation outcrops were analyzed using ICP-MS, INAA, and PXRF. The resulting data reveals that redware pottery recovered from those Colorado sites originated at a major production center in southeastern Utah in central Montezuma Canyon.

Pecos Conference, 2017

San Juan Red ware pottery was made between AD 750 and AD 1050 and is found at most Pueblo I and e... more San Juan Red ware pottery was made between AD 750 and AD 1050 and is found at most Pueblo I and early Pueblo II sites throughout the Four Corners Region. It is believed to have been produced in southeastern Utah where high-iron Morrison Formation clays are sporadically exposed. Potters made these vessels in numbers that far exceeded the needs of their respective households and villages and the scarcity of non-local pottery types inside the production zone suggests an economy of sorts existed between redware producers and many hundreds of villages outside the production zone. Elemental analysis was performed on a sample of redware from two production zone villages in Montezuma Canyon of southeast Utah and five communities outside the production zone in southwestern Colorado. There is significant compositional similarity between that pottery. Complex relationships appear to have existed between the potters of Montezuma Canyon and importer villages located outside the production zone.

Pecos Conference, 2017

Previous archaeometric methods have failed to unambiguously link pottery to production zones in t... more Previous archaeometric methods have failed to unambiguously link pottery to production zones in the American Southwest. A multidisciplinary approach using geostatistics and spatial statistics coupled with traditional sourcing analysis methodologies provides a robust and novel method for establishing provenience of PI red ware ceramics in southeastern Utah. Ongoing field research and comprehensive analysis of native clays from the Morrison Formation permitted differentiation of numerous elemental signatures across the landscape and thus identification of geographically and compositionally unique production zones. Subsequent production and analysis of tempered-fired clays and prehistoric ceramics resulted in the classification of pottery assemblages compositionally similar to the production zones. The results revealed that some, but not all, pottery in the study group was produced using clay found proximal to the site where the ceramics were recovered. In other cases, it appears ceramics traversed long distances across the landscape and in many directions. Research on clay exposures across the region continues…

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Pottery Southwest, 2022

American Antiquity, 2016

Southwestern Lore, 2021

Academia Letters, 2022

American Antiquity, 2016

Southwestern Lore, 2021

http://www.fourcornersresearch.com/Mitchell\_Springs\_Report\_1998-2004.pdf, 2009

The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest,... more The turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was independently domesticated in Mesoamerica and the Southwest, the latter as the only
case of Native American animal domestication north of Mexico. In the upland (non-desert) portion of the American Southwest,
distinctive closely related mtDNA lineages belonging to haplogroup H1 (thought to indicate domestication) occur from ca.
1 A.D. (Basketmaker II period) through early historic times. At many sites, low frequencies of lineages belonging to
haplogroup H2 also occur, apparently derived from the local Merriam’s subspecies. We report genetic, stable isotope, and
coprolite data from turkey remains recovered at three early sites in SE Utah and SW Colorado dating to the Basketmaker
II, III, and early Pueblo II periods. Evidence from these and other early sites indicates that both the H1 and H2 turkeys had
a predominantly maize-based diet similar to that of humans; prior to late Pueblo II times, the birds were kept primarily to
provide feathers for blankets and ritual uses; and ritualized burials indicate turkeys’symbolic value. We argue that viewing
individuals from the H1 and H2 haplogroups as “domestic” versus “wild” is an oversimplification.

Pecos Conference 2022, 2022

The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anth... more The study of cultural interaction is often viewed within the context of material exchange in anthropology. Tracing the pathways of artifacts from their origin of manufacture to their point of deposition reveals patterns of interaction and exchange among prehistoric people. Previous archaeometric approaches in southeastern Utah have been limited in their ability to source ceramics at such fine spatial scales as neighboring communities where the examination of interaction and exchange is most challenging. The study reported here focused on an archaeometric method aimed at solving this problem through examination of geological materials and prehistoric pottery sherds. The abbreviated results presented here highlight the relationship between two large Ancestral Puebloan sites and reveal that pottery recovered from a site in southwest Colorado originated almost exclusively, from a single producer of red ware in Montezuma Canyon, Utah. The two sites are among nearly one hundred sites currently under evaluation in the study area, which covers some 3,500 square kilometers in the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.

Pecos Conference, 2021

San Juan Red Ware Project: What Have We Learned? Research Update 2021

Pecos Conference, 2019

Pecos Conference, 2018

Pecos Conference, 2017

Pecos Conference, 2015

Archaeologists spend many hours of time collecting the information needed to produce good quality... more Archaeologists spend many hours of time collecting the information needed to produce good quality plan-view maps. By using a high precision ground control network of aerometric targets and a drone (UAS), we captured low altitude high resolution photogrammetry over a small greathouse and a pitstructure at Mitchell Springs Ruins. Photogrammetric distortion is minimized giving the field archaeologist an accurate way to produce high-quality maps, in far less time than conventional tape and compass alone. The photogrammetry is field checked for accuracy through comparison of planar grid coordinates extrapolated in GIS to their field-measured values. This work demonstrates the benefit of UAS technology, and couples this with survey-grade RTK GPS, for large-scale (small area) archaeological mapping. To validate the technique, a Tri-Wall and a Pitstructure are surveyed and tested for accuracy and precision.

Pecos Conference, 2016

We examine an early 13th Century kiva wall covering consisting of thirty-five layers of plaster f... more We examine an early 13th Century kiva wall covering consisting of thirty-five layers of plaster from Mitchell Springs, Cortez, CO. A pXRF analysis of alternating white, grey, and red plasters, suggested the individual plaster colors belonged to homogeneous chemical groups. Further exploratory and statistical analyses of the resultant data matrix using XRD and ESEM-EDS/WDS, strongly suggest the plasters originate from locally available source constituents, with bulk compositional signatures of all three groups having one or more source constituents in common. This work bears important implications for other provenience studies, particularly ceramic materials, and offers insight into a new archaeometric approach.