Home / National Park Service Exhibits / Grand Canyon National Park (GRCA) / Archaeology / Contents of a House 21
In this exhibit you will find the remains of an eleventh century pit house excavated on the South Rim in Grand Canyon National Park. Although the artifacts displayed here are not spectacular by standard definitions, they are the pieces that when put together, tell the story of who, how, and when people lived here. Casual removal of such artifacts from the surfaces of sites alters the story, so please, leave artifacts where you find them.
- Pit House
This pit house on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was home to perhaps four to nine people sometime in the early eleventh to mid-twelfth century (A.D. 1050-1130). Residents of the house appear to have been of the Cohonina archaeological culture, based on ceramic artifacts, with ties to the Kayenta of northeastern Arizona, with whom they traded for decorated pottery, and perhaps the Hohokam to the south, through whom they may have acquired shell and obsidian. The pit house contained a deep floor, a large hearth, and a thick roof, suggesting it was able to keep its residents warm even in the often harsh winter months experienced on the South Rim. The hearth certainly could have generated a large amount of heat for warmth and for cooking relatively large amounts of food. Prior to abandonment of the site, the hearth was filled, the floor covered with sediment and small stones, and the pit house burned, likely by its residents, who took most of their belongings with them when leaving for a new location. Reference: Downum, Christian E. (2011) Archaeological Excavations at Site B:16:105, Grand Canyon National Park. Archaeological Report 1247. Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. - Deadmans Gray Jar Sherds
Pictured here are the remains of a Deadmans Gray jar recovered from the upper fill of the pit house. This vessel may have rested on the roof before it collapsed and represents the most common pottery type found at the site. - Floyd Black-on-gray
This type of pottery (Floyd Black-on-gray) was made between A.D. 800 and 1025 and is associated with the Cohonina archaeological culture. - Floyd Black-on-gray, Close View
This photograph shows the broken edge of a piece of Floyd Black-on-gray pottery. The larger pieces that look like sand are called temper, which is used to strengthen ceramic vessels. Temper also helps archaeologists identify ceramic wares and types, and in some cases, can be used to determine where the vessel itself was made. - Tusayan White Ware
Tusayan White Ware is a ceramic type associated with the Kayenta archaeological culture of northeastern Arizona. These likely arrived at the site through trade. - Corrugated Sherds
Tusayan Gray Ware, manufactured in the Kayenta cultural area of northeastern Arizona, was the most abundant of the imported ceramic wares found on site. The sherds shown here are all Tusayan Corrugated (A.D. 1050-1175), though several show a zoned pattern involving bands of pinched corrugations and unpinched bands. - Medicine Black-on-red
Another type of imported ceramic found at the site was Tsegi Orange Ware, also manufactured in the Kayenta cultural area. Types represented include Medicine Black-on-red (shown here), which dates to A.D. 1050-1125, and Tusayan Black-on-red (A.D. 1065-1200). - Tsegi Orange Ware
The mend holes in these Tsegi Orange Ware sherds may indicate the value of traded wares, as holes like these were drilled on either side of a crack and then threaded with cotton or yucca thread or sinew to bind the crack and prolong the life of the vessel. - Hearth
This is the excavated hearth (fire pit) within the pit house. The builders of the pit house dug the hearth deeply into decaying limestone bedrock, and within this hearth archaeologists found a stone bead, a bone awl, and a charred juniper seed. The hearth was intentionally filled prior to the destruction of the house, with charcoal, ash, and rock packed in around a large piece of wood placed nearly vertically within it. Additional ash and charcoal was mounded over the filled hearth, with several large limestone rocks then placed over the mound, and over this lay a layer of yellowish, clayey fill and small limestone rocks that had apparently been used to cover the floor. Scientific study of the hearth fill indicates sagebrush and a woody member of the rose family (perhaps cliffrose)were burned in the hearth, as were juniper and pine. A few fragments of bone were also present, likely representing food remains tossed into the fire after a meal, one of which was a mammal—perhaps bison or sheep—roasted over the fire. Prickly pear and yucca may also have been cooked here, as was corn (Zea mays) and perhaps juniper, goosefoot, purslane, ricegrass, and wild licorice, as well as walnuts, acorn, and hazelnut. - Animal Bone
This is a burned piece of animal bone found at the site. The size and condition of the bone suggests it came from a medium to large mammal that was consumed as food. Other bones were made into tools, including the awl found within the hearth. - Mammal Bone
This is an ulnar carpal from a medium to large mammal, one of the few identifiable bones found on the site. Like the other faunal remains recovered during excavation, this bone was burned. - Corn Impression
Excavations just outside the pit house produced a piece of fired clay with corn (maize) cob impressions. Just a fragment, this piece is thought to have been part of a clay stopper used to seal a jar in which corn was stored; it is likely it was unfired until the burning of the pit house. - Impression, Close View
Detail of the maize cob impression. The fragment was likely part of a clay jar stopper. - Stone Bead
One of the artifacts recovered from the hearth of the pit house was this stone bead. Sediment still clings to the bead, which was likely made of steatite, a soft stone commonly used for beads in the prehistoric northern Southwest. - Shell
A single shell was recovered from the surface of the site. This was an intact and unmodified Turritella sp. (possibly T. leucostoma) shell measuring 25.73 mm long.