PUEBLOS

The site is made hospitable by the Animas river, which rises to the north in the San Juan Mountains, and flows year-round across the plains of northwestern New Mexico. Near Aztec it runs through a narrow valley lush with cottonwoods and willows, and the fertile bottomlands have long provided an excellent place for farming. The people grew corn, beans and squashes, and supplemented their diet with hunting and gathering and small scale kitchen gardening.
This view is looking to the north from the southwestern corner of the West Ruin, across the Great Plaza and towards the kivas and tiered structures on the north side of the compound. Kivas are lower and nearer to the plaza, lower level rooms were for storage, while the upper levels contained residential areas. Outdoor spaces, plazas and rooftops served as daily living and working areas.

Tree-ring dating indicates that the bulk of the West Ruin was built between 1110-1115 AD, a large rectangular compound of about 400 rooms and more than 25 kivas, built on the high ground overlooking the river. The structure, which was up to 3 stories tall, closes off the north, west and east sides of the Great Plaza, which is open to the south, where a curved retaining wall creates a terrace overlooking the river. The overall compound thus takes on the characteristic D-shape, that is often seen in great houses of the Chacoan area.
Typical of Anasazi great houses, the structures of West Ruin are rigidly organized along 3 axes around the Great Plaza. Doorways within the compound are aligned enfilade, so that one can often see through a whole series of rooms and back outside and beyond. Doorways and window openings are dressed in more carefully finished masonry, with stone slab stoops and wooden lintels.

The great kiva in the plaza at West Ruin was built during the Chaco Culture occupation in the 12th century, and later remodeled during the Mesa Verde phase. It was excavated by Earl Morris in 1921, and later rebuilt by him in 1934, based on the findings from his earlier excavations. It remains the only large kiva in the whole Southwest to have been completely reconstructed.
The circular roof is supported on 4 great posts, with a square opening directly above the firepit in the center. The rectangular basins on either side of the firepit are believed to be foot drums, that were played by dancing on them. The kiva is entered by stairways down from the north and south, and the space is encircled by square windows with vertical slots, that connect the kiva to an upper surrounding gallery. On the north side of the structure there is a projection containing a square upper chamber, that functions as an entrance vestibule.

The archaeological work of Earl H. Morris will long be remembered in the pre-history of the Southwest. At age 25 he headed up the first systematic exploration at Aztec for the American Museum. He spent the next 7 seasons excavating and stabilizing the West Ruin, the Great Kiva, and a few rooms at the East Ruin. During this process he discovered that there were 2 distinct periods of occupation, first by the Chaco Culture at the beginning of the 12th century, and later by the Mesa Verde culture in the 13th century. Morris returned to Aztec in the 1930's to supervise the reconstruction of the Great Kiva, based on findings from his earlier excavations.
This view is in the northwestern part of the compound, looking out of one of the rooms, through a doorway and into an open-air space to the east. Notice that the stoop is made of a single large slab of limestone. The masonry beyond is layed up in rough ashlar courses set in thick clay mortar, characteristic of the earlier, Chacoan period of occupation. Most of the stone is the soft, light sandstone found in the local area, which was used without regard to shade and color variations, since all the walls were eventually covered with plaster.

This view is taken from the center of the Great Plaza, looking over the southern rim of the Great Kiva, and to the residential structures at the northern edge of the compound. The walls of the great circular kiva are lined with masonry piers and benches at the base, and beam pockets at the top, which are all part of the intricate roof structure required to span such a large space. The whole roof was supported on a four-square of piers, and the top of the roof was covered with plaster and used as a raised circular terrace within the Great Plaza. The masonry of the Great Kiva displays the regular courses of brick-like blocks, characteristic of the Mesa Verde phase of occupation.