Rudd Creek Pueblo facts for kids

The Rudd Creek Pueblo is an ancient village site in Springerville, Arizona. It's a special place where archaeologists study the past. This village was built by people who lived in the Mogollon culture and Anasazi areas. They lived here between about 1225 and 1300 AD.

The site is located inside the Sipe White Mountain Wildlife Area. In 1996, a team from Arizona State University studied the site. They wanted to learn about the old buildings and tools. They also wanted to see how much damage had been done by people illegally digging for artifacts, which is a big problem for archaeology.

Discovering Rudd Creek Pueblo

Rudd Creek Pueblo sits on a high area overlooking Rudd Creek. It's about 2,335 meters (7,660 feet) above sea level. The village is in a unique spot between the White Mountains and the Colorado Plateau. It's also near the Little Colorado River Valley.

The village is in an open valley. This means the people who lived there had access to many different natural areas. These included grassy plains with juniper trees, areas near water, and forests with pine trees. Because of this, they could find many different plants and animals to use for food and other needs.

How the Pueblo Was Built

The buildings at Rudd Creek Pueblo are similar to other villages from the same time. The site has about 40 rooms. These rooms are part of a large, rectangular stone building. There are also two big sunken areas. These are thought to be the locations of "great kivas." Kivas were special rooms used for ceremonies and important gatherings.

A rectangular pueblo shape was common for the Mogollon culture. Most of the rooms at Rudd Creek Pueblo have been disturbed by people digging illegally. But some rooms still have their original contents. Many rooms were likely living spaces. They had fireplaces, storage pits in the floor, and grinding stones for corn. Other rooms were probably used for storage. They were smaller and had fewer features.

One special room (Unit 5) might have been used for ceremonies. It has a large raised platform and a bench. There's also a circular fireplace and a vent in the middle of this room. This suggests it was used for rituals or special meetings.

The walls of the main building were mostly made of stone. They were usually 20-40 centimeters (8-16 inches) thick. Even though many walls are damaged, it's believed they were once covered with brown plaster. The inside and outside walls were built differently. Inside walls used rough limestone, sandstone, and small stones set in mud. Outside walls used more uniform stones like limestone, sandstone, and basalt. They also had small, flat stones filling the gaps. This difference helps archaeologists understand how the building was constructed. It suggests the inside walls were built faster than the outside ones.

Building Over Time: Construction Phases

Archaeologists have found four different building phases at Rudd Creek Pueblo. Based on pottery found, building probably started between 1225 and 1250 AD.

The first phase was a single, small group of connected rooms. Later phases involved building new rooms and changing old ones. They even filled in doorways and vents. The way the inside walls were built changed in later phases. At least one inside wall in each room was built more carefully, like the outside walls. During the middle phases, new rooms were added to the eastern side of the pueblo.

The last building phase happened in the northern part of the village. It's believed that rooms were built just south of one of the great kivas (Unit 15) during this time. It's hard to know exactly when building stopped because of the damage from illegal digging. But it likely ended between 1250 and 1300 AD.

Exploring the Great Kivas

Archaeologists did some digging in two large sunken areas. These areas are just north and east of the main building. Both seem to be locations of great kivas. These were important places where the people of Rudd Creek Pueblo held ceremonies.

The northern kiva (Unit 15) had a lot of ash and burned roof beams. Because of illegal digging, only a stone-lined pit was found at the bottom. However, several artifacts were found on the floor. These included bone tools, pottery jars, and a grinding stone. These items seemed to have been placed there on purpose. The combination of these artifacts and the burned roof suggests this kiva was ritually closed when the people left.

The second sunken area, east of the building, revealed a square, partly underground kiva. It was about thirteen meters (43 feet) long and mostly intact. Its walls were built much like the main building's walls. Like the first kiva, this one also had a lot of ash and burned roof pieces. This suggests it was also burned or ritually closed when the villagers left. Similar square kivas have been found at other villages from the same time period.

What Archaeologists Found: Artifacts

Pottery Found at the Pueblo

Archaeologists found almost 12,000 pieces of pottery at Rudd Creek Pueblo. About one-third of these were painted or slipped pottery. The rest were mostly plain brown pottery. Brown pottery was very common in the Mogollon culture.

The most common types of pottery found were Tularosa Black-on-white, St. John’s Black-on-red, and St. John’s Polychrome. Finding these types of pottery helps archaeologists know that the village was active during the late-Tularosa phase.

Stone Tools and Objects

Most of the stone tools found at Rudd Creek Pueblo were simple flakes of stone. These were not shaped into specific tools. Carefully made tools were rare. Archaeologists found 698 flaked stone artifacts. More than 80% of these were made from high-quality stone like chert and petrified wood. Most of these flakes were made by hitting one stone with another.

Only a small number of formal tools were found. These included six unifaces (tools sharpened on one side), five bifaces (tools sharpened on both sides), eleven saws, and eleven arrowheads. These tools are similar to those found at other Tularosa phase sites.

One room (Unit 6) had a special hidden collection of stone tools in a pit in the floor. This collection included a biface, three arrowheads, and a red stone bead. The reason for this hidden collection is not known. But it's thought the villagers might have gathered these tools from nearby areas. They might have kept them for ceremonies or just out of curiosity. The large number of simple stone flakes and few formal tools suggests that the villagers focused on making quick tools and used flakes more often.

Animal and Plant Remains

Because Rudd Creek Pueblo was in a diverse environment, many animal remains were found. These included animals from the juniper savanna and mountain forests. In total, 906 animal bones were found, representing 17 different types of animals. These included rabbits, hares, and rodents.

Only 14% of the animal remains were from large animals like deer and pronghorn antelope. Since many plant-eating animals were found, it's thought the area around the pueblo had a lot of plants. Bones from meat-eating animals like black bears and bobcats were rare. These animals were likely used for their fur or for special rituals. Bird bones were also found, including turkey and other birds like golden eagles. Birds other than turkey were probably used for their feathers for special purposes or rituals, not just for food.

When People Lived Here and Why They Left

Archaeologists figured out when people lived at Rudd Creek Pueblo by studying both artifacts and tree rings. Tree-ring dating was difficult because not many good samples were found. Only one tree-ring sample could be dated. It came from one of the great kivas (Unit 7) and showed a date of 1275 AD. This date means the tree was cut down around or after that time.

Combining the tree-ring date with the types of pottery found, archaeologists believe the village was built in the mid-1200s AD. People lived there until around 1300 AD.

It's believed that the people of Rudd Creek Pueblo left in a hurry. This is suggested by evidence of burned buildings and items left on the floors. Two ideas explain why they left:

• Conflict: One idea is that the village was burned because of widespread fighting. This was common in other pueblos during that time.
• Ritual Closing: Another idea is that the villagers ritually closed the buildings by burning them and leaving artifacts. This was a tradition seen in pueblos in later periods.