Hough's Great Kiva (AZ P:16:112) was visited in 1901 by its discoverer and namesake, Walter Hough, as part of the Museum-Gates Expedition. He sketched the great kiva and masonry room block and photographed the site, including a plan and photograph in his 1903 report. The site was recorded by cultural resource management surveys in 1991 and relocated and identified as Hough's site by the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School in 1993. The site is located within 2 km of the Mogollon Rim at an elevation of almost 2000 m above sea level in dense ponderosa pine forest. However, Hough's 1901 photograph of the site shows that the area was shrubby oak woodland before modern fire suppression policies.

The most notable architectural feature of the site is the extremely large circular great kiva. With a 24 m diameter, it is one of the largest in the Southwest during its occupation. This site was chosen for excavation to learn more about the role of this site with such prominent public architecture within its community. A number of grid squares and trenches were excavated in the kiva to gather comparative information about its architecture, including wall construction, bench configuration, floor preparation, and whether or not is was roofed. It is likely that the structure had a partial roof that burned, which is suggested by the impressed daub and charcoal fragments. But there was no evidence for a full roof. Like other great kivas studied, the walls were constructed with a core of rubble and earth with interior and exterior sandstone masonry and some suggestion that the interior wall was plastered. The bench lining the interior surface was earthen, with some masonry slabs to define the horizontal and vertical surfaces. The floor surface was constructed through the deposition of clean sand on the bedrock surface.

Two rooms in the adjacent room block were excavated to tighten the dating of the site and to assess the activities taking place on the site. The two relatively large rooms excavated were primarily habitation rooms, but the assemblages suggest that these spaces accommodated many uses. Architectural information from the excavations in the room block showed that the pueblo was probably constructed rapidly, perhaps in one episode. The site probably did not see much growth or a lengthy occupation, as these rooms did not show evidence of remodeling or trash deposition on the floor surfaces before the pueblo burned. However, the large trash deposits suggest a year-round occupation.

According to the ceramic evidence, the site dates to the early Carrizo phase, between AD 1080 and 1150, with Red Mesa Black-on-white, Reserve Black-on-white, and Snowflake Black-on-white dominating the decorated ceramic assemblage. Although tree-ring dating did not produce a large number of dates, it does help support the ceramic dating evidence. Seven tree-ring dates were obtained from the specimens submitted to the University of Arizona Tree-Ring Lab. One specimen from Room 1 had a cutting date of AD 1123/24, while the six non-cutting dates cluster between AD 1119 and 1123. The tree-ring dating suggests the site might have been constructed towards the end of the Carrizo phase.

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