Greetings from UNM in Albuquerque!  We move out to Chaco on Sunday and will begin work on Room 28 in Pueblo Bonito on Monday morning, June 3, 2013.  Some people have asked how we get to work in Chaco Canyon, so I thought I'd provide some background on the process.

The first step was to talk with the Park Archaeologists about the possibility of reopening Room 28 in Pueblo Bonito.  Because of our interest in understanding how cacao got to Chaco and how it was used within the Canyon, we proposed that reopening the room where most of the cylinder jars were found would provide information on the dating of the room, the use of the room, and the ultimate burning/abandonment of the room.  George Pepper had provided one possible scenario for these events and Neil Judd had provided an alternative.  After consulting George Pepper's field notes, it seemed possible that neither the Pepper nor the Judd interpretations of events were correct, and I (Patricia Crown) proposed a third possible set of events. Talks with the Park Archaeologists began in 2009.

So the second step was the create a formal research proposal to submit to the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.  This outlines questions and approaches to answering them.  It was submitted in May 2010.  The Park gave me internal comments and the proposal was revised in March 2011.   The Park sent the revised proposal out for review to two groups: three professional archaeologists and 25 member tribes of the Chaco Consultation Committee.  They sent me the resulting comments in August 2011.  I revised the proposal in response to those comments and to some specific requirements from the NPS.  A final, final version of the NPS proposal was completed and accepted in October of 2011.

Once I had permission to reopen the room, the third step was to obtain funding.  I submitted a proposal to the National Endowment for the Humanities Collaborative Research Grants program in December 2011.  This was accepted for funding by July 2012, but required a matching grant.  The National Geographic Society Committee on Research and Exploration provided a second grant.  By March 2013, I had all of the necessary funding in place to begin the project in Summer 2013.

Conducting archaeological research in the 21st Century is a complex process!  We're hopeful that four years of planning will culminate this summer with answers to some important questions about the past in Chaco!

Our Poster!

We are happy to present the interpretive poster that will be featured at the park this summer. This poster will be displayed on the visitors' trail near the excavations.