Surface Archaeology of the Red Knobs Site, a Southeastern Utah Great House

Keywords

southeastern Utah, Red Knobs, Anasazi archaeology

Abstract

Red Knobs is a large Anasazi site in southeastern Utah. It was a community center twice-first around AD. 900, then again in the early to mid-llOOs. The later occupation incorporated some of the architectural symbolism associated with Chacoan great houses, including a great kiva and a prehistoric road. Other characteristics, including having been built on top of an earlier community center, seem symbolic but are not dearly Chacoan. Also, ceramics suggest substantial local production with economic ties strongest to the southwest rather than the southeast toward Chaco or Aztec. It appears that connections to Chaco, if any; were relatively indirect. Other southeastern Utah great houses are highly variable, but share both the Chacoan architectural symbolism and the tendency to be located on the ruins of large, late Pueblo I villages. This suggests attempts to evoke connections both to the large, distant Chacoan centers and to local precursors.

Original Publication Citation

James R. Allison 2004 Surface Archaeology of the Red Knobs Site, a Southeastern Utah Great House. Kiva 69(4):339-360.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2004

Publisher

Kiva

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Anthropology

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

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