Pottery Hill was first the focus of archaeological research at the turn of the century when Walter Hough conducted excavations here as part of the Museum-Gates Expedition of 1901. However, the local community knew about this site much earlier. Hough wrote that curio dealers from Pinedale had disturbed the burial areas before he began work there. Hough also conducted excavations in the burial areas, although the precise locations of these excavations are not known. Archaeological research at Pottery Hill has been limited since Hough's work there. It is likely that Emil Haury visited Pottery Hill during the Third Beam Expedition. Situated near the modern town Linden, this site is the defining site of the Linden phase of Haury's Forestdale Valley chronology. More recently, Pottery Hill was mapped and recorded as part of a timber sale in the region. In 1993, SCARP's first field season, intensive excavations were initiated at the site. This project mapped the site and conducted excavations through 1997.

Pottery Hill is situated on a narrow portion of Juniper Ridge at an elevation of 1950 m. The site is situated near Linden Draw, a perennial water source. The hill drops sharply on three sides of the site: to the north, south, and east. The location of the site provides panoramic views of the landscape to the north and east. This landscape is covered with meadows and stands of juniper and pine. From this position, Mesa Redonda is visible on the northeast horizon, and the volcanic peaks near Springerville are visible to the east. This site's position on the top of a small rise is not unusual for contemporaneous Pueblo III period sites in the Mogollon Rim area. Many archaeologists have associated the hilltop sites dating to this period with their inhabitants' increased concern for defense.

The site of Pottery Hill is comprised of a principal construction area on two terraces as well as two small outlying room blocks to the northwest. The principal room block is configured in an L-shape and is located on the upper terrace. Several additional structures partially enclose a plaza on the lower terrace. The numerous noncontiguous room blocks at this site suggests households may have joined the community well after the occupation of the site began. The L-shaped room block was the focus of SCARP's earliest excavation at this site. Two rooms were excavated completely (Rooms 1 and 3). Other portions of the site were excavated using a strategy of 1 m-wide trenches and transects, and 1 by 1 m quadrats. One of the structures delimited and partially excavated with trenches and grid squares was the subterranean square kiva in the northeastern part of the site. This structure has an eastern bench and was constructed next to a row of masonry rooms lying to its north.

The excavations discovered evidence of a considerable amount of space associated with ritual activity. The ritual architecture at the site was at three different scales. It appears that Room 3 once had a ritual function, which is suggested by both its architectural features and the deliberate sealing of the room. The earlier of two surfaces of Room 3 had a circular hearth, flagstone paving, a sipapu (a symbolic opening in the floor of a kiva for ancestors to emerge), ash box, and wall vent. In addition, a jet pendant was intentionally placed on this earlier floor-surface of this semi-subterranean room before a layer of sterile sediments was deposited. The second scale of ritual architecture at the site was the square subterranean kiva, with a formal bench. This structure represents a large labor investment in its construction and finishing. The structure required the excavation of approximately 40 m³ of the hard, sterile claystone underlying the site to create this 1.5-meter deep room. The bench and floor were leveled with clean yellow sand and capped with a layer of mud plaster. There is evidence that the kiva burned at some point after its construction, but the floor surface was remodeled after this burning. In fact, the floor was resurfaced at least 19 times, as numerous alternating clay and sand layers are visible in the profile. The third scale of ritual space is the semi-enclosed plaza, which was probably a location of suprahousehold activities.

The excavations also revealed several habitation rooms and general activity areas. Room 1 is interpreted to be a habitation room in which food processing took place. This is suggested by the size of the room, the central slab-lined hearth, and the presence of two mealing bins for the grinding of maize into flour. The later floor of Room 3, above the ritually closed surface, probably represents a manufacturing area, as the primary and de-facto refuse are associated with manufacturing activity and there was no evidence of a mealing bin, which would be present in a habitation room. A jacal, or wattle-and-daub structure (Structure 1) housing what appears to be another manufacturing area was discovered with one of the numerous trenches on the lower terrace. The structure is defined by seven aligned post-hole features and an informal hearth feature. The de facto artifacts found on the surface of this structure consist of a bone awl, palette and two manos, which are associated with limited, manufacturing activities. In addition to manufacturing activities suggested by de facto refuse inside the masonry and jacal structures, an extramural ceramic production area was discovered on the prehistoric use-compacted ground surface near the kiva. Ceramic production is suggested because of the polishing stones, worked sherd scrapers and puki (a shallow vessel used to shape a pottery vessel).

Questions concerning the long length of occupation at this site remain. Pottery Hill was occupied much longer than other pueblos dating to a similar time-period in the Mogollon Rim area. It is likely that the primary occupation of the site started around AD 1200, but superpositioning of features suggests a minor early occupation before AD 1200. The site was occupied until about AD 1275. The occupation dates of ca. AD 1200 to 1275 for the site were arrived upon through ceramic cross dating, as only one early non-cutting tree-ring date was obtained from a grid square in the north room block (AD 1084 vv). The dominant decorated ceramic type is St. Johns Polychrome, while contemporaneous types of Snowflake Black-on-white and Showlow Black-on-red were found in trace amounts. The closing of the site in the late 13^th century appears to have been planned. There is little evidence for a hasty departure, in which artifacts may be left behind. The artifacts recovered on the room floors of the site were few and those remaining were well used.

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