Cothrun's Kiva (AZ P:12:277) is a great kiva site, located in the lower reaches of the Silver Creek drainage at an elevation of roughly 1900 m. Cothrun's Kiva site is 11 km north of the other great kiva sites studied by this project, on a lower-elevation landscape dominated by pinyon and juniper trees. The site was discovered during a Forest Service controlled burn in 1994 by the captain of the fire crew. Hence, it is named for Forest Service employee, Mike Cothrun. Unlike the other great kiva sites in the Silver Creek drainage, there is some evidence of an occupation of the site that predates the construction of the great kiva and the accompanying room block. This earlier occupation is suggested by: (1) an accumulation of trash over a slab-lined baking feature; (2) metates reused as construction material mixed with fallen masonry; (3) an older, basin metate in the trash midden; (4) a possible pit features under the floors of Rooms 1 and 4; and (5) a large unnaturally cleared area near the room, that may be an area of pit houses, south of the room block.

The site's occupation span has not been finely delimited. Chronological evidence for the site's occupation rests on ceramics and AMS radiocarbon dates. The ceramics collected from the surface and from excavations complement the radiocarbon dates, indicating that dates before AD 1000 are unlikely. Six radiocarbon dates were obtained from corn kernels recovered from Rooms 1 and 4, with 90 percent of the calibrated curve falling between AD 880 and 1050. (AA28738-AA28743). Both the ceramic evidence and radiocarbon dates suggest occupation during the first half of the 11th century.

The residential architecture at the site consists of a U-shaped room block with 5 extant rooms, and an outlying structure that may have once consisted of 2 or 3 rooms. All that remains of the small outlying structure is a severely pothunted rubble mound. The great kiva structure is attached to the room block with a series of masonry walls, enclosing a "courtyard." This configuration has been noted in the Chevelon drainage and below the Mogollon Rim near Payson, but otherwise is more reminiscent of Pueblo III sites in the San Juan Basin. The great kiva dominates this site. Its rubble area measures about 23 m by 22 m, although excavation suggests that the wall-to-wall diameter of the structure is 17.5 m. Excavations of the great kiva did not reveal evidence for a full roof, like other great kivas studied. But some charcoal and daub suggest that the great kiva may have had a partial roof over the bench. Like the other great kivas, the walls were constructed with sandstone masonry on the interior and exterior surfaces with a core of earth and rubble. However, the orientation of the kiva's entrance, a ramp in the northeast quarter, differs from the southeastern orientation of other great kivas studied and those at Tla Kii and Carter Ranch.

This site has been more intensively studied than the other great kiva sites. The three rooms on the site that were badly damaged by pothunting activities were excavated to salvage information from them. The excavations of these rooms suggest that the U-shaped room block was constructed in a single episode. The exterior wall formed by the western walls of Rooms 1, 2, and 3 is a seamless wall. The interior walls of these rooms were covered with a thin layer of white kaolin plaster, and were plastered many times. There was no evidence of second story rooms, but the roof spaces appear to have been utilized as activity areas. The presence of a number of reconstructible vessels and carbonized corn suggest that food processing and storage activities occurred on the roofs. The courtyard may have also been an activity area, but there was little evidence for specific activities.

© 2002. Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona.
Drawings by Douglas Gann (Mills et al. 1999)
Comments to Barbara Mills